After All These Years Book Six
by Are you calling me crazy
Summary: After six long, life-threatening years at Hogwarts, Levina was almost positive that she could handle anything life threw her way. But this? This was more than just a giant troll or a dementor...This was something that could very well alter her entire life. Forever.
1. An Unexpected Surprise

**Hey, guys. Are you excited as I am for this book? The Half Blood Prince is actually probably my favorite book in the series! Hope you enjoy the first chapter, and remember to leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I **_**still **_**don't own the Harry Potter series. Shocking, isn't it?**

* * *

><p>Levina Snowpetal's earsplitting scream could be heard by anyone within a mile.<p>

She had awoken that morning like normal to the sound of her cousin's clam music box playing softly and Athena's faint hoots. She'd gotten up, tripped over several possessions and plushies on the floor, and had allowed the Spectacled Owl out of her cage, so she could fly out in the early, misty morning air. There was a mess of spell books and newspapers piled on her desk near the window, which she'd been meaning to clean up, and a copy of the _Daily Prophet _was open on the very top of it all, bearing the caption:

HARRY POTTER: THE CHOSEN ONE?

Levina had scanned the article once, and then ambled wearily over to her large mirror in the corner of her room to tame her messy hair. A surprise had greeted her, however, when she saw her reflection inside it:

Everything but one aspect about her was normal; she'd grown at least a tiny bit taller over the fortnight, and she was, to her delight, more womanly in her figure than before. Her chocolate-brown eyes were exactly the same as they always were, but her hair…

Levina scrambled away from the mirror, staring in utter shock at her reflection. Her usually long, light brown hair was…red. Now, for most of her life, her hair had been a very dark brown, but in the last couple of years, it had been getting progressively lighter and lighter. Just the previous day her hair had been a very light brown color, but now…Now it was a bright red-orange color worthy of the Weasley's.

"Levina? Levina!"

The door burst open and Destiny Levesque staggered into the room, her long black hair messy from sleep and her beautiful blue eyes wide. She was still in her pale blue nightgown and her feet were bare.

"What's going o—" Destiny began, but she broke off at the sight of Levina. She, too, screamed.

"What's happened to me!" Levina screamed. Hair colors didn't just change overnight, and she certainly hadn't used a spell to change it.

"I—I don't—"Destiny spluttered. "Let's—let's just calm down, and go see Dad—"

Without bothering to change out of her pajamas, Levina followed Destiny downstairs and into the kitchen, where Uncle Nicholas was pouring a fresh batch of coffee. Eric Levesque was sitting at the table, scanning the newspaper with his sharp golden eyes. When they entered the room, he looked up from the paper and his handsome features changed from casual to surprise.

"Uh, Uncle…?" said Eric, his eyes locked onto Levina.

"Yes?" said Uncle Nick. He was wearing his black reading glasses over his dark brown eyes. "What is it?"

"Levina's—hair—" Destiny stammered, pointing at Levina.

Uncle Nick adjusted his glasses, gazed over at Levina, and frowned. For a moment, he said nothing. Then he burst into laughter.

"Dad!" said Destiny, shocked. "_Why _are you laughing? This isn't funny!"

"I should have known this would happen," said Uncle Nick, still chuckling. "Don't worry, Destiny, she's fine."

"What's wrong with my hair?" demanded Levina, bemused. "What happened to me?"

"I swear, have you read _any _of the Werewolf books we bought you?" said Uncle Nick. "We filled an entire section in the library…"

"Yeah…?"

"Don't you remember?" Uncle Nick crossed the room towards her, passing by Eric, who was still gaping at her. "It's not uncommon for werewolves' hair to change color. A werewolf of your kind has a specific fur color, in your case, red. If the human with the gene has a different color hair than the werewolf gene, then, over time, the human's hair begins to alter gradually to fit the wolf's color, and, eventually, it completely changes."

Levina stared at him in shock. "So, if I were to turn into a werewolf right now, I would have red fur?"

"Exactly," said Uncle Nick.

"How do you know all this?" said Destiny, whose mouth was also hanging open. "Did you read all the books?"

"Well, if your brother is dating a Werewolf, it's kind of hard to not learn about them," said Uncle Nick. "I remember the first time your mother's hair changed color," he added to Levina, grinning. "It used to be more of a black color when she was younger, but by the time she was your age, it was a much lighter brown."

"So…it's normal?" said Levina, sighing in relief.

Uncle Nick nodded. "Anyway, shouldn't you two be packing for the Burrow? Dumbledore should be here today, you know."

"Oh, right," said Levina; she'd received a letter three days ago from Dumbledore, which had read:

_Dear Levina,_

If it is convenient to you, I shall call at Levesque Manor this coming Friday at twelve p.m. to escort you to the Burrow, where you have been invited to spend the remainder of your school holidays.

Kindly send your answer by return of this owl. Hoping to see you this Friday,

I am yours most sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore.

"Yeah, I should probably go pack," said Levina, still gazing at a strand of her hair in her hand. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Eric?" she added to Eric, who shook his dark head.

"Nah; you two have fun, though," he said, taking a sip of his coffee. "I might just go back to Romania with Ryuu early this year…"

Destiny suddenly giggled.

"What?" said Levina.

"Oh, nothing," said Destiny, still giggling. "It's just that…I'm sure Eric'll have a_ lot_ more fun at the dragon sanctuary than here."

A red color flushed across the bridge of Eric's nose. "Hey!" he snapped, looking fiercely at Destiny.

"What?" said Levina, but Destiny shook her head and led her from the room, back up the stairs. Once they were back inside Levina's bedroom, Destiny closed the door shut tight and said immediately, as though she could not hold it in, "Eric's got a girlfriend!"

"_What?" _said Levina again, shocked. Although very handsome, Eric often kept to himself and wasn't very flirtatious; he was generally fairly cold and quiet. Levina had noticed, however, that he'd been acting different and smiling more since she'd come back from school the previous year.

"They met in Romania, at the dragon sanctuary," Destiny explained, looking delighted to spread this piece of gossip. "He's, like, her mentor, and she came to our house for Easter, while you were at school. She's very nice," she added.

"Hermione'll be disappointed," said Levina, laughing as she began folding her clothes into a suitcase."What's her name?"

"Mirela," said Destiny, waving her wand so that Levina's stuff began flying about the room, cramming into her suitcase. "But don't talk to Eric about it!" she added hastily. "He'll be upset that I told you; I guess he's kind of embarrassed."

"I won't," Levina promised. She removed some old sweets, empty ink bottles, and broken quills from the suitcase bottom, making room for her clothes. Nearby, on the floor, lay a purple leaflet emblazoned with the words:

Issued on behalf of The Ministry of Magic

PROTECTING YOUR HOME AND FAMILY AGAINST DARK FORCES

The Wizarding community is currently under threat from an organization calling itself the Death Eaters. Observing the following simple security guidelines will help protect you, your family, and your home from attack.

1. You are advised not to leave the house alone.

2. Particular care should be taken during the hours of darkness. Wherever possible, arrange to complete journeys before night has fallen.

3. Review the security arrangements around your house, making sure that all family members are aware of emergency measures such as Shield and Disillusionment Charms, and, in the case of underage family members, Side-Along-Apparition.

4. Agree on security questions with close friends and family so as to detect Death Eaters masquerading as others by use of the Polyjuice Potion (see page 2).

5. Should you feel that a family member, colleague, friend, or neighbor is acting in a strange manner, contact the Magical Law Enforcement Squad at once. They may have been put under the Imperius Curse (see page 4).

6. Should the Dark Mark appear over any dwelling place or other building, DO NOT ENTER, but contact the Auror office immediately.

7. Unconfirmed sightings suggest that the Death Eaters may now be using Inferi (see page 10). Any sighting of an Inferius, or encounter with same, should be reported to the Ministry IMMEDIATELY.

"Anyway," said Destiny, breaking into Levina's thoughts, "I wonder what's up with the Malfoys?"

"What do you mean?" said Levina, picking up a brass telescope and some folded up robes.

"I dunno…Dad says they've been acting funny. He says Draco's mum, Narcissa, has been disappearing a lot, and that they all look really pale and stuff."

"Huh," said Levina, not altogether too interested; the Malfoy family was always strange. The fact that Draco's mother was leaving the house a lot and that they weren't out in the sun much wasn't a big news story for her.

"I hardly see that Draco boy, either," Destiny continued as she coaxed Athena back into her cage. "I wonder what he's—OW!"

A black streak of fur had bolted out from under the bed, tripping Destiny and knocking her off her feet; Lilypad, Levina's black cat, had apparently realized that they were preparing to go somewhere, and did not want to be left behind. In her mouth, Draco Malfoy's shoelace hung; she'd stolen it from him and had been obsessed with it since.

"There you are," said Levina, scooping her up. "Sorry," she added to Destiny.

"No problem," said Destiny, although she was rubbing her foot, irritated. "I'll be right back; I'm going to go put on some clothes..."

The pair spent the rest of the day packing up their stuff and preparing to go to the Weasley's house. Levina was especially excited, ready to see Fred Weasley again. She had a feeling she would never tire of his familiar smell, warmth, and voice.

Dumbledore arrived at exactly twelve o'clock; Uncle Nick greeted him in the doorway, with Eric lurking behind him, watching the two wizards chat.

"Good evening, Nicholas," said Dumbledore in his deep voice. "May I come in? It is unwise to linger overlong on doorsteps in these troubled times."

"Of course, of course…"

Levina and Destiny peered around the corner, where a tall, thin man with a waist-length silver hair and beard stood in the entryway. Half-moon spectacles were perched on his crooked nose, and he was wearing a long black traveling cloak and pointed hat.

"It is a long time since my last visit," said Dumbledore, shaking Uncle Nick's hand. "Excellent, excellent…Ah, hello, Eric."

It was strange seeing Eric shake Dumbledore's hand and greet him like an old friend, but Eric had in fact gone to Hogwarts. Destiny and Levina climbed out from behind the corner.

"Hello, Levina," said Dumbledore. Then he paused. "I see the Werewolf gene in you has caught up?" he added, and Levina nodded, glad that she didn't have to explain it.

"Ah, and this must be your daughter, Destiny?"

"Oui," said Destiny, and she too shook Dumbledore's hand, looking slightly shocked at the man's appearance. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"And the same to you, my dear."

As he drew back his hand from their handshake, Levina saw that it was blackened and shriveled; it looked as though his flesh had been burned away.

"Um, Sir?" said Levina. "What happened to your han—?"

"Later, Levina," said Dumbledore. "Well then... time for us to be off," he said, standing up and straightening his long black cloak.

"Let's get our trunks," said Destiny, and the pair ran back upstairs to gather their belongings. Destiny grabbed her suitcase and Celeste's cage (her rare Pernambuco Pygmy owl) and Levina collected her own. Lilypad uttered a rumbling hiss as she reluctantly climbed into her cage, and as they headed downstairs, Stanislav, Eric's spotted eagle owl, soared over their heads, hooting loudly.

"No, Stani!" said Destiny, waving him away with one hand. "You have to stay here with Eric."

The bird fluttered down onto Eric's shoulder, looking dejected. Levina and Destiny dragged their suitcases and brooms into the hallway, where Dumbledore said, "Until we meet again," to Uncle Nick and Eric, who nodded.

Levina and Destiny hugged Eric and Uncle Nicholas goodbye hastily. "I won't see you again until the holidays," said Destiny, embracing the pair heartily.

"Behave while you're at the Weasleys'," said Uncle Nick, kissing Destiny on the forehead. "Do well in school, and be respectful towards your professors—"

"Of course, Daddy. Au revoir!" she added, and she and Levina exited out through the front door, stepping into cool, misty darkness.

They made their way down the street, in the opposite direction of Malfoy Manor, which did indeed look darker and more empty than usual, Levina noted. They continued walking past Levesque Manor's long gates until they reached the end of the sidewalk. Once there, Dumbledore came to a halt and turned around to look at them.

"You two have not, of course, passed your Apparition Test," he said.

"Er—no?" said Levina. "Don't you have to be seventeen?"

"You do," said Dumbledore. "So you will need to hold on to my arm very tightly. My left, if you don't mind—as you have noticed, my wand arm is a little fragile at the moment."

Levina and Destiny tentatively gripped Dumbledore's proffered forearm.

"Very good," said Dumbledore. "Well, here we go."

Levina felt Dumbledore's arm twist away from her and redoubled her grip; the next thing she knew, everything went black; she was being pressed very hard from all directions; she could not breathe, there were iron bands tightening around her chest; his eyeballs were being forced back into her head; her eardrums were being pushed deeper into her skull and then—

She gulped great lungfulls of cold night air and opened her streaming eyes. She felt as though she had just been forced through a very tight rubber tube. It was a few seconds before she realized that Levesque Manor had vanished. She and Dumbledore were now standing near the back door of the Borrow, which was surrounded by the familiar litter of old Wellington boots and rusty cauldrons; she could hear the soft clucking of sleepy chickens coming from a distant shed. Levina realized, just then…She had Apparated.

"Are you all right?" asked Dumbledore, looking down at her solicitously. "The sensation does take some getting used to."

"Er…fine," said Levina, although she felt queasy and she was pretty sure she'd singed off a small strand of hair. "Not so sure about Destiny, though…"

Destiny was kneeling on the ground, holding her stomach and retching. She wasn't actually puking anything, but she looked close to it.

"All right?" Dumbledore asked her, and she nodded vaguely, looking green in the face.

"I'm…" She coughed one last time and staggered to her feet, "…okay."

Dumbledore smiled, drew his traveling cloak a little more lightly around his neck, and said, "This way."

They headed up to the back door of the Burrow, where Dumbledore knocked three times and Levina saw sudden movement behind the kitchen window.

"Who's there?" said a nervous voice she recognized as Mrs. Weasley's. "Declare yourself!"

"It is I, Dumbledore, bringing Levina and her cousin, Destiny."

The door opened at once. There stood Mrs. Weasley, short, plump, and wearing an old green dressing gown.

"Levina, dear! Gracious, Albus, two _more? _I wasn't expecting them until morning!"

"We were lucky, remember?" said Dumbledore, ushering Levin and Destiny over the threshold. "Slughorn proved much more persuadable than I had expected, but you already know that…I figured, since it went so well, I may as well bring these two early as well."

Levina and Destiny dropped their stuff off in a corner of the room, placing all their belongings in a pile. She noticed that Destiny kept glancing around her, gazing at everything with wonder. Levina wondered whether she was either shocked at how odd the place was, or how poor it was compared to her manor. Whichever the case, she seemed fixated on the enchanted clock on the wall.

"Well, I shall see you at Hogwarts, Levina," said Dumbledore. "Take care of yourself. Nice meeting you, Destiny," he added, and Destiny nodded.

He made Mrs. Weasley a bow and vanished. Mrs. Weasley closed the door on the empty yard and then steered Levina by the shoulders into the full glow of the lantern on the table to examine her appearance.

"Good heavens, dear!" she gasped, apparently only now noticing her hair in the bright light. "What's happened to your hair?"

"Er…Werewolf thing," said Levina, fighting the urge to run to the nearest mirror and examine her new hair color.

"Oh," said Mrs. Weasley, although she still appeared to be confused. "Well, you still look lovely, my dear. Nothing wrong with red hair," she added with a laugh, considering how all the Weasleys were redheads. "I swear, you look prettier every time I see you. Oh, hello, Destiny!" she added.

"Hello," said Destiny, grinning. "Nice to see you again, Mrs. Weasley."

"Yes, well, I do hope you two forgive the mess," she said, gazing around at the cluttered room.

"I think it's lovely," said Destiny. "Strangely enough, our house doesn't have a whole lot of magical objects…"

"Oh, well, thank you," said Mrs. Weasley, looking slightly flattered. "Are you two hungry?"

"Yeah, actually," said Levina; she and Destiny hadn't eaten much.

"Er…sure," said Destiny; she still looked slightly ill from the Apparition.

"Sit down, dears, I'll knock something up."

As Levina and Destiny sat down, a furry ginger cat with a squashed face lumped onto their knees and settled there, purring. Levina flicked her wand once and Lilypad's cage was unlocked; she leapt across the room to greet the other cat.

"Crookshanks, eh?" said Levina, grinning as she tickled Crookshanks behind the ears. "Hermione's here, too, then?"

"Oh yes, she arrived the day before yesterday," said Mrs. Weasley, rapping a large iron pot with her wand. It bounced onto the stove with a loud clang and began to bubble at once. "Everyone's in bed, of course, we didn't expect you two for hours. Harry just arrived about an hour before you two. Here you are..."

She tapped the pot again; it rose into the air, flew towards them, and tipped over; Mrs. Weasley slid two bowls nearly beneath it just in time to catch the stream of thick, steaming onion soup.

"Bread, dear?"

"Yes, please," said Levina.

"Oui," Destiny chimed in. "Thank you; this looks delicious."

She waved her wand over her shoulder; a loaf of bread and a knife soared gracefully onto the table; as the loaf sliced itself and the soup pot dropped back onto the stove, Mrs. Weasley sat down opposite them.

"So, I don't know whether Ron's told you in any of his letters," said Mrs. Weasley as Levina hungrily ate a spoonful of hot soup, "it's only just happened...but Arthur's been promoted!"

"That's brilliant!" said Levina through a mouthful of bread.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" said Destiny.

"You are sweet," beamed Mrs. Weasley. "Yes, Rufus Scrimgeour has set up several new offices in response to the present situation, and Arthur's heading the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It's a big job; he's got ten people reporting to him now!"

"So what exactly—" Destiny began.

"Well, you see, in all the panic about You-Know-Who, odd things have been cropping up for sale everywhere, things that are supposed to guard against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. You can imagine the kind of thing... so-called protective potions that are really gravy with a bit of Bubotuber pus added, or instructions for defensive jinxes that actually make your ears fall off... Well, in the main the perpetrators are just people like Mundungus Hotelier, who've never done an honest day's work in their lives and are taking advantage of how frightened everybody is, but every now and then something really nasty turns up. The other day Arthur confiscated a box of cursed Sneakoscopes that were almost certainly planted by a Death Eater. So you see, it's a very important job, and I tell him it's just silly to miss dealing with spark plugs and toasters and all the rest of that Muggle rubbish."

"So then, is Mr. Weasley still at work?" asked Levina.

"Oh, no; he arrived home a little while ago, after Harry got here."

"So, Harry's also here, then?" said Levina excitedly; it had not registered the first time she'd mentioned him.

"Yes, he's already in bed; just as you probably should be," she added, as Levina yawned. "Have you had enough soup?"

"Yes, thank you," said Levina, and Destiny nodded quietly.

"I've got Fred and George's room all ready for you; although you'll have to share it with Harry, if you're all right with that."

"No, that's fine," said Levina, but the only words that had really registered were "Fred" and "George." "So, where are they, then?" she added.

"Oh, they're in Diagon Alley, sleeping in the little flat over their joke shop as they're so busy," said Mrs. Weasley. "I must say, I didn't approve at first, but they do seem to have a bit of a flair for business! Come on, dears—do you need any help with your trunks?"

"No, it's fine," said Levina. "'Night, Mrs. Weasley."

Fred and George's bedroom was on the second floor. Levina pointed her wand at a lamp on the bedside table and it ignited at once, bathing the room in a pleasant golden glow. Though a large vase of flowers had been placed on a desk in front of the small window, their perfume could not disguise the lingering smell of what Levina thought was gunpowder. A considerable amount of floor space was devoted to a vast number of unmarked, sealed cardboard boxes, where Levina and Destiny dumped their luggage. The room looked as though it was being used as a temporary warehouse.

What struck Levina's attention, however, was something lying asleep in one of the beds: Harry Potter.

"Harry!" said Destiny, but Levina put a hand over her mouth and hissed, "Shh! Don't wake him up."

Levina changed into her pajamas in the bathroom and climbed into the second bed, while Destiny offered to take the sleeping bag on the floor. They were just about to turn off the light when someone said, "Ginny?"

Harry was sitting upright, looking very tired and in a daze. He was staring directly at Levina, but his glasses were off, so he must have just seen her hair and assumed it was Ron's sister.

"No, no, it's Levina," said Levina, and Harry looked puzzled. He put on his glasses, blinked, and frowned.

"Levina? What…what did you do to your hair?" he demanded, bewildered.

"I'll explain to you in the morning," said Levina, yawning.

"Hi, Harry," whispered Destiny, and Harry blinked wearily.

"Oh…hi, Destiny," he mumbled, then, without removing his glasses, he sank back into sleep.

That morning, Levina awoke abruptly to what sounded like cannon fire as the door burst open. Sitting bolt upright, she heard the rasp of the curtains being pulled back: The dazzling sunlight seemed to poke her hard in both eyes. Shielding them with one hand, she pulled the covers over her head, groaning sleepily.

"Wuzzgoinon?" said Harry's voice nearby.

"We didn't know you were here already!" said a loud and excited voice, and there was a loud _WHAP _noise.

"Ron, don't hit him!" said a girl's voice reproachfully.

Levina pulled the covers off of her face to see Ron Weasley, who was beaming down at her.

"All right, Harry? Levina—? He broke off, frowning. Then he jumped back, startled, as though sokething had only just registered in his mind. "What the bloody hell have you done to your hair?" he yelped.

"_Ron!" _said Hermione, although she was also gawking open-mouthed at Levina. "Levina, what…?"

Levina sighed. "The type of Werewolf gene that I have causes my hair to change color to match my Werewolf form's color, but it only just now finally officially kicked in…"

"Oh, I've read about that before!" said Hermione, astonished. "But I've never seen it actually…" she trailed off. "Is that why it kept getting lighter?"

"Yup," said Levina.

"Well…at least it's not a bad color," said Ron, gesturing to his own hair. "But it'll take some getting used to…Anyway, how have you two been?"

"Never been better," said Harry, rubbing the top of his head and slumping back onto his pillows. "You?"

"Not bad," said Ron, pulling over a cardboard box and sitting on it. "When did you get here? Mum's only just told us!"

"About maybe one o'clock this morning."

"Were the Muggles all right? Did they treat you okay?"

"Same as usual," said Harry, as Hermione perched herself on the edge of his bed, "they didn't talk to me much, but I like it better that way."

"Good morning," said Destiny, who stirred sleepily and glanced around at everyone.

"Destiny!" said Ron quickly, surprised to see Destiny in the room as well. His ears flushed red. "Hi—why are you—what are you—?"

Levina stifled a laugh. "She's staying here too, remember?"

"So, how're you, Hermione?" said Harry.

"Oh, I'm fine," said Hermione.

"What's the time? Have we missed breakfast?" said Harry.

"Don't worry about that, Mum's bringing you three up a few trays; she reckons you look underfed," said Ron to Harry, rolling his eyes.

"I don't miss those days," said Levina, thinking of when she had lived with what she liked to call her "fake family."

"So, what's been going on?" said Ron.

"Nothing much, I've just been stuck at my aunt and uncle's, haven't I?"

"Come off it!" said Ron. "You've been off with Dumbledore!"

"It wasn't that exciting. He just wanted me to help him persuade this old teacher to come out of retirement. His name's Horace Slughorn."

"Yeah, and he just came to pick up Destiny and I at our house," said Levina, shrugging.

"Oh," said Ron, looking disappointed. "We thought—"

Hermione flashed a warning look at Ron, and Ron changed tack at top speed.

"—we thought it'd be something like that."

"Oh, really?" said Levina, amused.

"Yeah...yeah, now Umbridge has left, obviously we need a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, don't we? So, er, what's he like?"

"He looks a bit like a walrus, and he used to be Head of Slytherin," said Harry, and Levina smirked.

"A _walrus?" _she demanded. "That's a new one."

"My History teacher looks a bit walrus-like," Destiny interjected.

"Something wrong, Hermione?" said Harry, and Levina glanced over at Hermione, who was smiling in a very fake way.

"No, of course not! So, um, did Slughorn seem like he'll be a good teacher?"

"Dunno," said Harry. "He can't be worse than Umbridge, can he?"

"_No one's _worse than Umbridge," said Levina darkly.

"I know someone who's worse than Umbridge," said a voice from the doorway. Ron's younger sister slouched into the room, looking irritable. "Hi, Harry, Levina, Destiny."

"What's up with you?" Ron asked.

"It's her," said Ginny, plonking herself down on Harry's bed. "She's driving me mad."

"What's she done now?" asked Hermione sympathetically.

"It's the way she talks to me...you'd think I was about three!"

"I know," said Hermione, dropping her voice. "She's so full of herself."

"Who?" said Levina, frowning. Surely they didn't mean Mrs. Weasley…?

Ginny glanced over at Levina, blinked several times, and stared at her in wonder. "I like your new hair," she commented. "You look like you could be my sister."

"Thanks," said Levina; she was glad Ginny wasn't questioning her more.

"Can't you two lay off her for five seconds?" said Ron.

"Oh, that's right, defend her," snapped Ginny. "We all know you can't get enough of her. Or her, for that matter," she added in an undertone, gesturing to Destiny, who looked slightly confused. "But the difference is, I like you, Destiny."

"Who are you...?" said Harry.

But his question was answered before he could finish it. The bedroom door flew open again, and Harry instinctively yanked the bedcovers up to his chin so hard that Hermione and Ginny slid off the bed onto the floor.

A young woman was standing in the doorway, a woman of such breathtaking beauty that the room seemed to have become strangely airless. She was tall and willowy with long blonde hair and appeared to emanate a faint, silvery glow. To complete this vision of perfection, she was carrying three heavily laden breakfast trays.

"'Arry," she said in a throaty voice. "Lehvina. Eet 'as been too long!"

As she swept over the threshold toward him, Mrs. Weasley was revealed, bobbing along in her wake, looking rather cross.

"There was no need to bring up the tray; I was just about to do it myself!"

"Eet was no trouble," said Fleur Delacour, setting the tray across Harry's knees and then swooping to kiss him on each cheek. Harry flushed red. "I 'ave been longing to see 'im. You remember my seester, Gabrielle? She never stops talking about 'Arry Potter. She will be delighted to see you again."

"Oh... is she here too?" Harry croaked.

"No, no, silly boy," said Fleur with a tinkling laugh, "I mean next summer, when we...but do you not know?"

Her great blue eyes widened and she looked reproachfully at Mrs. Weasley, who said, "We hadn't got around to telling him yet."

"Telling him what?" said Levina.

Fleur turned back to Harry, swinging her silvery sheet of hair so that it whipped Mrs. Weasley across the face.

"Bill and I are going to be married!"

"Oh," said Harry blankly, and Levina could not help noticing how Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and Ginny were all determinedly avoiding one another's gaze. "Wow. Er… congratulations!"

She swooped down upon him and kissed him again.

"Bill is very busy at ze moment, working very 'ard, and I only work part-time at Gringotts for my Eenglish, so he brought me 'ere for a few days to get to know 'is family properly. I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming... zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens! Oh, Desteeny!" she added, seeming to have only just now noticed the other girl's presence in the room. She ran forward to greet her. "What are you doing 'ere?"

"I'm here with my cousin," said Destiny, beaming and getting up to hug Fleur. "How are you? I've missed seeing you in our dance class!"

"As 'ave I!" said Fleur, delighted. She placed Destiny's tray on her lap, then handed Levina hers. "Well... enjoy your breakfast, 'Arry, Levinah, Desteeny!"

With these words she turned gracefully and seemed to float out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Mrs. Weasley made a noise that sounded like, "tchah!"

"Mum hates her," said Ginny quietly.

"I do not hate her!" said Mrs. Weasley in a cross whisper. "I just think they've hurried into this engagement, that's all!"

"They've known each other a year," said Ron, who looked oddly groggy and was staring at the closed door.

"Well, that's not very long! I know why it's happened, of course. It's all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they're rushing all sorts of decisions they'd normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left, right, and center..."

"Including you and Dad," said Ginny slyly.

"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?" said Mrs. Weasley. "Whereas Bill and Fleur... well... what have they really got in common? He's a hardworking, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's..."

"A cow," said Ginny, nodding.

"Uh, Ginny?" said Levina, who was looking over at Destiny. She wondered how Destiny was taking all of this bashing towards her friend.

"Oh, no, it's fine," said Destiny, seeming to understand what Levina was thinking. "She's my friend, but she's conceited as all get out."

"But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour... I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."

"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Harry, Levina, and Hermione laughed. "Well, I'd better get on... Eat your eggs while they're warm, you three."

Looking careworn, she left the room. Ron still seemed slightly punch-drunk; he was shaking his head experimentally like a dog trying to rid its ears of water.

"Don't you get used to her if she's staying in the same house?" Harry asked.

"Well, you do," said Ron, "but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then..."

"It's pathetic," said Hermione furiously, striding away from Ron as far as she could go and turning to face him with her arms folded once she had reached the wall.

"You don't really want her around forever?" Ginny asked Ron incredulously. When he merely shrugged, she said, "Well, Mum's going to put a stop to it if she can, I bet you anything."

"How's she going to manage that?" asked Harry.

"She keeps trying to get Tonks round for dinner. I think she's hoping Bill will fall for Tonks instead. I hope he does, I'd much rather have her in the family."

"Yeah, that'll work," said Ron sarcastically.

"And why not?" said Levina, raising her eyebrows at Ron.

"Listen, no bloke in his right mind's going to fancy Tonks when Fleur's around. I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn't doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but..."

"She's a damn sight nicer than Phlegm," said Ginny, and Levina laughed.

"And she's more intelligent, she's an Auror!" said Hermione from the corner.

"Fleur's not stupid, she was good enough to enter the Triwizard Tournament," said Harry.

"Not you as well!" said Hermione bitterly.

"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says ''Arry,' do you?" asked Ginny scornfully.

"No," said Harry, looking as though he wished he hadn't spoken, "I was just saying, Phlegm... I mean, Fleur..."

"I'd much rather have Tonks in the family," said Ginny. "At least she's a laugh."

"She hasn't been much of a laugh lately," said Ron. "Every time I've seen her she's looked more like Moaning Myrtle."

"That's not fair," snapped Hermione. "She still hasn't got over what happened...you know...I mean, he was her cousin!"

Levina was about to ask "who" when she realized they were talking about Sirius…Beside her, Harry picked up his fork and began shoveling eggs into his mouth hurriedly. Levina followed suit, picking up her pumpkin juice glass and gulping it down.

"Tonks and Sirius barely knew each other!" said Ron. "Sirius was in Azkaban half her life and before that their families never met-"

"That's not the point," said Hermione. "She thinks it was her limit he died!"

"How does she work that one out?" asked Harry, in spite of himself.

"Well, she was fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, wasn't she? I think she feels that if only she had finished her off, Bellatrix couldn't have killed Sirius."

"That's stupid," said Ron.

"It's survivor's guilt," said Hermione. "I know Lupin's tried to talk her round, but she's still really down. She's actually having trouble with her Metamorphosing!"

"With her...?"

"Changing her looks," explained Levina.

"She can't alter her appearance like she used to," explained Hermione. "I think her powers must have been affected by shock, or something."

"I didn't know that could happen," said Harry.

"Nor did I," said Hermione, "but I suppose if you're really depressed..."

The door opened again and Mrs. Weasley popped her head in. "Ginny," she whispered, "come downstairs and help me with the lunch."

"I'm talking to this lot!" said Ginny, outraged.

"Now!" said Mrs. Weasley, and withdrew.

"She only wants me there so she doesn't have to be alone with Phlegm!" said Ginny crossly. She swung her long red hair around in a very good imitation of Fleur and pranced across the room with her arms held aloft like a ballerina.

"You lot had better come down quickly too," she said as she left.

Levina helped herself to more of her eggs, wondering what it would be like to see Fleur anytime she paid the Weasley's a visit…She shuddered. In the corner of the room, Hermione was peering into Fred and George's boxes, though every now and then she cast sideways looks at Harry. Ron, who was now helping himself to Harry's toast, was still gazing dreamily at the door.

"What's this?" Hermione asked eventually, holding up what looked like a small telescope.

"Dunno," said Ron, "but if Fred and George left it here, it's probably not ready for the joke shop yet, so be careful."

"Oh, right," said Destiny, sitting upright and craning her neck to look over her shoulder at Hermione. "George told me something about that telescope in a letter recently…I only wish I could remember what it was…"

Hermione shrugged and picked up the telescope, examining it curiously. Levina set aside her tray and peered over the edge of her bed to look into the box as well, scanning the contents within it. She could see several small, colorful candies and some sort of watery substance in a bottle.

"Your mum said the shop's going well," said Harry. "Said Fred and George have got a real flair for business."

"That's an understatement," said Ron. "They're raking in the Galleons! I can't wait to see the place; we haven't been to Diagon Alley yet, because Mum says Dad's got to be there for extra security and he's been really busy at work, but it sounds excellent."

"And what about Percy?" asked Harry; the third-eldest Weasley brother had fallen out with the rest of the family. "Is he talking to your mum and dad again?"

"Nope," said Ron.

"Well, that's certainly a tragedy," said Levina sarcastically.

"But he knows your dad was right all along now about Voldemort being back..."

"Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right," said Hermione. "I heard him telling your mum, Ron."

"Sounds like the sort of mental thing Dumbledore would say," said Ron.

"It's not mental; it's wise," said Levina.

"He's going to be giving me private lessons this year," said Harry conversationally.

Ron choked on his bit of toast, Hermione gasped, and Levina swallowed a mouthful of juice. She spluttered and reached for a napkin, coughing. _"What?"_

"You kept that quiet!" said Ron.

"I only just remembered," said Harry. "He told me last night in your broom shed."

"In…the broom shed?" Levina repeated, smirking.

"Blimey... private lessons with Dumbledore!" said Ron, looking impressed. "I wonder why he's... ?"

His voice tailed away. Levina saw him and Hermione exchange looks. Harry laid down his knife on the tray. "I don't know exactly why he's going to be giving me lessons, but I think it must be because of the prophecy."

Neither Ron nor Hermione nor Levina spoke. Harry continued, "You know, the one they were trying to steal at the Ministry."

"Nobody knows what it said, though," said Hermione quickly. "It got smashed."

"It was destroyed, remember?" said Levina.

"Although the Prophet says..." began Ron, but Hermione said, "Shh!"

"The Prophet's got it right," said Harry, looking up at the three of them. Hermione seemed frightened and Ron amazed. "That glass ball that smashed wasn't the only record of the prophecy. I heard the whole thing in Dumbledore's office, he was the one the prophecy was made to, so he could tell me. From what it said," Harry took a deep breath, "it looks like I'm the one who's got to finish off Voldemort... At least, it said neither of us could live while the other survives."

The four of them gazed at one another in silence for a moment. Then there was a loud bang and Hermione vanished behind a puff of black smoke. Levina yelped and jumped back, startled.

"Hermione!" shouted Harry, Levina, and Ron; the breakfast tray slid to the floor with a crash.

Hermione emerged, coughing, out of the smoke, clutching the telescope and sporting a brilliantly purple black eye.

"I squeezed it and it...it punched me!" she gasped.

And sure enough, they now saw a tiny fist on a long spring protruding from the end of the telescope. Levina covered her mouth to stifle the start of a very obvious snicker.

"Oh," said Destiny, who looked slightly upset with herself. _"That's _what George told me in the letter."

"Don't worry," said Ron, who was plainly trying not to laugh, "Mum'll fix that, she's good at healing minor injuries..."

"Oh well, never mind that now!" said Hermione hastily. "Harry, oh, Harry..."

She sat down on the edge of his bed again.

"We wondered, after we got back from the Ministry...Obviously, we didn't want to say anything to you, but from what Lucius Malfoy said about the prophecy, how it was about you and Voldemort, well, we thought it might be something like this... Oh, Harry..." She stared at him, then whispered, "Are you scared?"

"Not as much as I was," said Harry. "When I first heard it, I was…but now, it seems as though I always knew I'd have to face him in the end..."

"When we heard Dumbledore was collecting you in person, we thought he might be telling you something or showing you something to do with the prophecy," said Ron eagerly. "And we were kind of right, weren't we? He wouldn't be giving you lessons if he thought you were a goner, wouldn't waste his time... he must think you've got a chance!"

"That's true," said Hermione. "I wonder what he'll teach you, Harry? Really advanced defensive magic, probably... powerful countercurses... anti-jinxes...But, did you two hear anything from Dumbledore?" she asked Levina and Destiny. Levina shook her head.

"Not a word; he just picked us up and accompanied us here for safety purposes." Levina couldn't help but feel disappointed. All along, she'd known somewhere in the back of her mind that Harry was, in fact, The Chosen One. And yet…After Voldemort murdered her parents, after she'd learned of her great powers and how famous she was…She'd always secretly wondered if she played a role in the defeat of Voldemort. But now? Maybe she really just was a strange girl with weird abilities… dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them.

"...and evasive enchantments generally," concluded Hermione; Levina looked up and realized she'd been staring at her hands, zoning out. "Well, at least you know one lesson you'll be having this year, that's one more than Ron, Levina, and me. I wonder when our O.W.L. results will come?"

"Can't be long now, it's been a month," said Ron.

"Oh yeah," said Levina, and her face lit back up once again. "I forgot about that!"

"Hang on," said Harry, as another part of last night's conversation came back to him. "I think Dumbledore said our O.W.L. results would be arriving today!"

"Today?" shrieked Hermione. "Today? But why didn't you... oh my God... you should have said..."

She leapt to her feet.

"I'm going to see whether any owls have come..."

"The system at Beauxbatons is different," said Destiny, making a face as she tried to recall something. "I think we take our exams next year, but I'm not sure…"

But when they arrived downstairs ten minutes later, fully dressed and carrying their empty breakfast trays, they found Hermione sitting at the kitchen table in great agitation, while Mrs. Weasley tried to lessen her resemblance to half a panda.

"It just won't budge," Mrs. Weasley was saying anxiously, standing over Hermione with her wand in her hand and a copy of The Healer's Helpmate open at 'Bruises, Cuts, and Abrasions'. "This has always worked before, I just can't understand it."

"It'll be Fred and George's idea of a funny joke, making sure it can't come off," said Ginny.

"But it's got to come off!" squeaked Hermione. "I can't go around looking like this forever!"

"Don't worry," said Destiny reassuringly. "I think I remember George telling me about an antidote…"

Levina couldn't help but envy Destiny right then; she and George had sent letters to each other during her entire stay at Levesque Manor, but Fred? She'd hardly received one…

"Bill told me 'ow Fred and George are very amusing!" said Fleur, smiling serenely.

"Yes, I can hardly breathe for laughing," snapped Hermione.

She jumped up and started walking round and round the kitchen, twisting her fingers together.

"Mrs. Weasley, you're quite, quite sure no owls have arrived this morning?"

"Yes, dear, I'd have noticed," said Mrs. Weasley patiently. "But it's barely nine, there's still plenty of time..."

"I know I messed up Ancient Runes," muttered Hermione feverishly, "I definitely made at least one serious mistranslation. And the Defense Against the Dark Arts practical was no good at all. I thought Transfiguration went all right at the time, but looking back-"

"Hermione, will you shut up, you're not the only one who's nervous!" barked Ron. "And when you've got your eleven 'Outstanding O.W.L.s...'"

"Don't, don't, don't!" said Hermione, flapping her hands hysterically. "I know I've failed everything!"

"Stop it!" snapped Levina; she didn't want to think about the prospect of possibly failing one of her exams….

"What happens if we fail?" Harry asked the room at large, but it was again Hermione who answered.

"We discuss our options with our Head of House, I asked Professor McGonagall at the end of last term."

Levina could feel a horrible sinking sensation in her stomach; she wished she'd eaten less breakfast.

"At Beauxbatons," said Fleur complacently, "we 'ad a different way of doing things. I think eet was better. We sat our examinations after six years of study, not five, and then..."

Fleur's words were drowned in a scream. Hermione was pointing through the kitchen window. Three black specks were clearly visible in the sky, growing larger all the time.

"They're definitely owls," said Ron hoarsely, jumping up to join Hermione at the window.

"And there are four of them," said Harry, hastening to her other side.

"One for each of us," said Hermione in a terrified whisper. "Oh no...oh no...oh no..."

She gripped Harry, Ron, and Levina tightly around the elbows.

The owls were flying directly at the Burrow, four handsome tawnies, each of which, it became clear as they flew lower over the path leading up to the house, was carrying a large square envelope.

"Oh no!" squealed Hermione, and Levina nudged her hard in the ribs.

"Will you _stop it?" _she pleaded. "I'm already freaking out enough!"

Mrs. Weasley squeezed past them and opened the kitchen window. One, two, three, four, the owls soared through it and landed on the table in a neat line. All four of them lifted their right legs.

Levina moved forward, heart pounding. The letter addressed to her was tied to the leg of the owl on the far right. She untied it with fumbling fingers. To her left, Hermione was trying to detach her own results; her hands were shaking so much she was making her whole owl tremble.

Nobody in the kitchen spoke. At last, Levina managed to detach the envelope. She slit it open quickly and unfolded the parchment inside, taking a deep breath as she did so.

Ordinary Wizarding Level Results

Pass Grades:

Outstanding (O)  
>Exceeds Expectations (E)<br>Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:

Poor (P)  
>Dreadful (D)<br>Troll (T)

Levina Nadia Snowpetal has achieved:

Astronomy E  
>Care of Magical Creatures E<br>Charms E  
>Defense Against the Dark Arts O<br>Divination P  
>Herbology E<br>History of Magic A  
>Potions E<br>Transfiguration O

Levina read the parchment through several times, her breathing becoming easier with each reading. Sure, she had always known that he would fail Divination, but she had passed everything else! Feeling as though she might burst from excitement, she read that she had passed with and O in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts! She'd received a passing grade in History of Magic (barely), and even passed Potions with an E!

She looked around. Hermione had her back to her and her head bent, but Ron was looking delighted.

"Only failed Divination and History of Magic, and who cares about them?" he said happily to Harry. "Here... swap..."

They switched papers.

"Knew you'd be top at Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Ron, punching Harry on the shoulder. "We've done all right, haven't we?"

"Well done!" said Mrs. Weasley proudly, ruffling Ron's hair. "Seven O.W.L.s, that's more than Fred and George got together!"

"Hermione?" said Ginny tentatively, for Hermione still hadn't turned around. "How did you do?"

"I—not bad," said Hermione in a small voice.

"Oh, come off it," said Ron, striding over to her and whipping her results out of her hand. "Yep... ten 'Outstandings' and one 'Exceeds Expectations' at Defense Against the Dark Arts." He looked down at her, half-amused, half-exasperated. "You're actually disappointed, aren't you?"

Hermione shook her head, but Harry laughed.

"What about you, Levina?" said Harry, and Levina exchanged papers with him; he'd also received an Outstanding in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Excellent, Levina!" said Harry, passing her paper back to her. "Two Outstandings!"

"I know, I'm so happy!" said Levina, beaming at him.

"Brilliant job!" said Destiny, hugging Levina with a bright, perfectly white-toothed smile.

"Well, we're N.E.W.T. students now!" grinned Ron. "Mum, are there any more sausages?"

Levina grinned back down at her sheet, but one thing was bugging her: This was the end of her and Harry's ambitions to become Aurors. She had not secured the required Potions grade. She had known all along that she wouldn't, but she still felt her heart sinking in her chest as she looked again at that small black E.

_I wonder what Harry's going to do now? _She thought, glancing over at Harry, who was scanning his results in silence now. She never saw much of a chance with the career anyway, after what Umbridge had told her about hiring "half-breeds." Turning away from the others and pretending to look at her own parchment, Levina pulled back her sleeve and stared down at the carved scars in her arm that read _"Filthy Half-Breed", _knowing in the back of her mind that the words would never leave her be.

* * *

><p>'<strong>Ello! So, how'd you lot enjoy the first chapter of the sixth book? I'm really sorry I've been bad at updating lately, so I posted this one much quicker to make up for it. Hope you enjoyed it and leave a review!<strong>

**Things to come: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Draco's detour, and more! (:**


	2. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

'**Sup, guys?**

**Disclaimer: Why yes, I do in fact own Harry Potter, and my name is J.K. Rowling. ...Sarcasm, people, sarcasm! Don't take me seriously...**

* * *

><p>Levina remained within the confines of the Burrow's garden over the next few weeks. She spent most of her days playing three-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard (She, Harry, and Hermione against Ron, Destiny, and Ginny; Hermione was dreadful and Ginny good, so they were reasonably well matched) and her evenings eating triple helpings of everything Mrs. Weasley put in front of her (except for the meat, which Hermione made her get less of).<p>

It would have been a happy, peaceful holiday had it not been for the stories of disappearances, odd accidents, even of deaths now appearing almost daily in the Prophet. Sometimes Bill and Mr. Weasley brought home news before it even reached the paper. To Mrs. Weasley's displeasure, Harry's sixteenth birthday celebrations were marred by grisly tidings brought to the party by Remus Lupin, who was looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked liberally with gray, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever. He'd barely made any sort of comment on Levina's new hair color, besides telling her what she already knew; this was unusual for him, considering how anytime she had a Werewolf question, he was usually very eager to give her loads of information.

"There have been another couple of dementor attacks," he announced, as Mrs. Weasley passed him a large slice of birthday cake. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark had been set over it... well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters; Sirius's brother, Regulus, only managed a few days as far as I can remember."

"Yes, well," said Mrs. Weasley, frowning, "perhaps we should talk about something diff..."

"Did you hear about Florean Fortescue, Remus?" asked Bill, who was being plied with wine by Fleur. "The man who ran-"

"- the ice-cream place in Diagon Alley?" Harry interrupted, and Levina realized who he was talking about, with an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. "He used to give me free ice creams."

"Wait, so what's happened to him?" Levina demanded.

"Dragged off, by the look of his place."

"Why?" asked Ron, while Mrs. Weasley pointedly glared at Bill.

"Who knows? He must've upset them somehow. He was a good man, Florean."

"Talking of Diagon Alley," said Mr. Weasley, "looks like Ollivander's gone too."

"The wand-maker?" said Ginny, looking startled.

"That's the one. Shop's empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped."

Levina recalled her first trip to Ollivander's many years ago…From what she remembered, the man had been very kind to her, and she had to go through four wands before finding the right one: Hawthorn, Dragon Heartstring, 11".

"That's horrible," said Destiny, frowning. "I mean, I got my wand at a different shop, but still…"

"But then, where will people get their wands?" said Levina.

"They'll make do with other makers," said Lupin. "But Ollivander was the best, and if the other side have got him it's not so good for us."

The day after this rather gloomy birthday tea, their letters and booklists arrived from Hogwarts. Harry's included a surprise: he had been made Quidditch Captain.

"That's great, Harry!" said Levina, beaming as she took the badge from him to examine it.

"That gives you equal status with prefects!" cried Hermione happily. "You can use our special bathroom now and everything!"

"I don't want to think about that," said Levina; the previous year, she'd used the prefect bathroom before Christmas to take a hot soak, and she'd run into Draco Malfoy, which had been devastating and incredibly embarrassing.

"Wow, I remember when Charlie wore one of these," said Ron, taking the badge from Levina, looking gleeful. "Harry, this is so cool, you're my Captain... if you let me back on the team, I suppose, ha ha..."

"Well, I don't suppose we can put off a trip to Diagon Alley much longer now you've got these," sighed Mrs. Weasley, looking down Ron's booklist. "We'll go on Saturday as long as your father doesn't have to go into work again. I'm not going there without him."

"Mum, d'you honestly think You-Know-Who's going to be hiding behind a bookshelf in Flourish and Blotts?" sniggered Ron.

"Fortescue and Ollivander went on holiday, did they?" said Mrs. Weasley, firing up at once. "If you think security's a laughing matter you can stay behind and I'll get your things myself..."

"No, I wanna come, I want to see Fred and George's shop!" said Ron hastily, and Levina looked up from her booklist, having heard the twins' names.

"Then you just buck up your ideas, young man, before I decide you're too immature to come with us!" said Mrs. Weasley angrily, snatching up her clock, all nine hands of which were still pointing at mortal peril, and balancing it on top of a pile of just-laundered towels. "And that goes for returning to Hogwarts as well!"

Ron turned to stare incredulously at Levina and Harry as his mother hoisted the laundry basket and the teetering clock into her arms and stormed out of the room.

"Blimey... you can't even make a joke round here anymore..."

"So then, we're going to Fred and George's shop?" said Levina excitedly.

"Yeah," said Ron glumly, "that is, if Mum doesn't flip out and make me stay here…"

But Ron was careful not to be flippant about Voldemort over the next few days. Saturday dawned without any more outbursts from Mrs. Weasley, though she seemed very tense at breakfast. Bill, who would be staying at home with Fleur (much to Hermione and Ginny's pleasure), passed two full money bags across the table to Harry and Levina.

"Where's mine?" demanded Ron at once, his eyes wide.

"Those are already theirs, idiot," said Bill. "I got it out of your vaults for you, Harry, Levina, because it's taking about five hours for the public to get to their gold at the moment, the goblins have tightened security so much. Two days ago Arkie Philpott had a Probity Probe stuck up his... Well, trust me, this way's easier."

"Thanks, Bill," said Harry, pocketing his gold.

"Yeah, thanks," said Levina, taking the bag and stuffing it in her new book bag for school; Destiny had bought it for her for her birthday.

"'E is always so thoughtful," purred Fleur adoringly, stroking Bill's nose. Ginny mimed vomiting into her cereal behind Fleur, and Levina snorted loudly, hastily covering it as a violent cough.

It was an overcast, murky day. One of the special Ministry of Magic cars was awaiting them in the front yard when they emerged from the house, pulling on their cloaks.

"It's good Dad can get us these again," said Ron appreciatively, stretching luxuriously as the car moved smoothly away from the Burrow, Bill and Fleur waving from the kitchen window. He, Harry, Levina, Hermione, Destiny, and Ginny were all sitting in roomy comfort in the wide backseat.

"Don't get used to it, it's only because of Harry and Levina," said Mr. Weasley over his shoulder. He and Mrs. Weasley were in front with the Ministry driver; the front passenger seat had obligingly stretched into what resembled a two-seater sofa. "They've been given top-grade security status; mostly Harry, of course," he added, as Levina shot him a bemused look. "And we'll be joining up with additional security at the Leaky Cauldron too."

_Oh, great, _thought Levina moodily. _So now, I'm not the Chosen One _and _I still need protection from Death Eaters because of my abilities…wonderful. _She knew she was being unfair about the situation, considering how much more of a burden Harry had on his shoulders, but she still didn't like the feeling of being unnecessary.

"Here you are, then," said the driver, a surprisingly short while later, speaking for the first time as he slowed in Charing Cross Road and stopped outside the Leaky Cauldron. "I'm to wait for you, any idea how long you'll be?"

"A couple of hours, I expect," said Mr. Weasley. "Ah, good, he's here!"

"Who?" said Levina, but upon peering out the window, she saw her answer: Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, was standing outside waiting for them, wearing a long beaverskin coat, beaming.

"Harry!" he boomed, sweeping Harry into a bone-crushing hug the moment Harry had stepped out of the car. "Buckbeak-Witherwings, I mean-yeh should see him, Harry, he's so happy ter be back in the open air-"

"Glad he's pleased," said Harry, grinning as he massaged his ribs. "We didn't know 'security' meant you!"

"I know, jus' like old times, innit? See, the Ministry wanted ter send a bunch o' Aurors, but Dumbledore said I'd do," said Hagrid proudly, throwing out his chest and tucking his thumbs into his pockets. "Ah, 'ello, Levina!" he added, grabbing her into a tight hug that made Levina's eyeballs bulge from their sockets. "All right?"

"I'm—well—" Levina wheezed.

"Good, good—Anyway, lets get goin' then-after yeh, Molly, Arthur-"

The Leaky Cauldron was, strangely enough, completely empty. Only Tom the landlord remained of the old crowd. He looked up hopefully as they entered, but before he could speak, Hagrid said importantly, "Jus' passin' through today, Tom, sure yeh understand, Hogwarts business, yeh know."

Tom nodded gloomily and returned to wiping glasses; Harry, Hermione, Levina, Hagrid, and the Weasleys walked through the bar and out into the chilly little courtyard at the back where the dustbins stood. Hagrid raised his pink umbrella and rapped a certain brick in the wall, which opened at once to form an archway onto a winding cobbled street. They stepped through the entrance and paused, looking around.

Diagon Alley had changed. The colorful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients, and cauldrons were lost to view, hidden behind the large Ministry of Magic posters that had been pasted over them. Most of these somber purple posters carried blown-up versions of the security advice on the Ministry pamphlets that had been sent out over the summer, but others bore moving black-and-white photographs of Death Eaters known to be on the loose. Bellatrix Lestrange was sneering from the front of the nearest apothecary. A few windows were boarded up, including those of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. On the other hand, a number of shabby-looking stalls had sprung up along the street. The nearest one, which had been erected outside Flourish and Blotts, under a striped, stained awning, had a cardboard sign pinned to its front:

AMULETS: Effective Against Werewolves, Dementors, and Inferi  
>A seedy-looking little wizard was rattling armfuls of silver symbols on chains at passersby.<p>

"One for one of your little girls, madam?" he called at Mrs. Weasley as they passed, leering at Ginny and Levina, who he apparently thought was one of the Weasley's, due to her new hair color. "Protect their pretty necks?"

"If I were on duty..." said Mr. Weasley, glaring angrily at the amulet seller as Levina subconsciously fingered the cerulean Werewolf necklace around her neck; she found it offensive that he was giving away 'magical objects' to protect from Werewolves.

"Yes, but don't go arresting anyone now, dear, we're in a hurry," said Mrs. Weasley, nervously consulting a list. "I think we'd better do Madam Malkin's first, Hermione wants new dress robes, and Ron's showing much too much ankle in his school robes, and Levina, I believe you're probably due for some fresh robes, and you must need new ones too, Harry, you've grown so much... come on, everyone..."

"Molly, it doesn't make sense for all of us to go to Madam Malkin's," said Mr. Weasley. "Why don't those three go with Hagrid, and we can go to Flourish and Blotts and get everyone's school books?"

"I don't know," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously, clearly torn between a desire to finish the shopping quickly and the wish to stick together in a pack. "Hagrid, do you think...-?"

"Don' fret, they'll be fine with me, Molly," said Hagrid soothingly, waving an airy hand the size of a dustbin lid. Mrs. Weasley did not look entirely convinced, but allowed the separation, scurrying off toward Flourish and Blotts with her husband and Ginny while Harry, Destiny, Ron, Levina, Hermione, and Hagrid set off for Madam Malkin's.

As they walked, Levina noticed that many of the people who passed them had the same hurried, anxious look as Mrs. Weasley, and that nobody was stopping to talk anymore; the shoppers stayed together in their own tightly knit groups, moving intently about their business. Nobody seemed to be shopping alone.

"The place seems so…lonely," said Destiny softly, gazing around with sad blue eyes. "Mum used to take Eric and I out around here for all of our shopping, and back then, it was so…so…"

"Fun," Levina finished, thinking to herself that the area now looked quite the opposite. "Yeah, I know what you mean…"

"Migh' be a bit of a squeeze in there with all o' us," said Hagrid, stopping outside Madam Malkin's and bending down to peer through the window. "I'll stand guard outside, all righ'?"

So Harry, Ron, Levina, Destiny, and Hermione entered the little shop together. It appeared, at first glance, to be empty, but no sooner had the door swung shut behind them than they heard a familiar voice issuing from behind a rack of dress robes in spangled green and blue.

"... not a child, in case you haven't noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone."

There was a clucking noise and a voice Levina recognized as that of Madam Malkin, the owner, said, "Now, dear, your mother's quite right, none of us is supposed to go wandering around on our own anymore, it's nothing to do with being a child—"

"Watch where you're sticking that pin, will you!"

A teenage boy with a pale, pointed face and white-blond hair appeared from behind the rack, wearing a handsome set of dark green robes that glittered with pins around the hem and the edges of the sleeves. He strode to the mirror and examined himself; it was a few moments before he noticed Harry, Ron, Levina, Destiny, and Hermione reflected over his shoulder. His light gray eyes narrowed.

"If you're wondering what the smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in," said Draco Malfoy.

"I don't think there's any need for language like that!" said Madam Malkin, scurrying out from behind the clothes rack holding a tape measure and a wand. "And I don't want wands drawn in my shop either!" she added hastily, for a glance toward the door had shown her Harry, Levina, and Ron standing there with their wands out and pointing at Draco.

Hermione, who was standing slightly behind them, whispered, "No, don't, honestly, it's not worth it."

"Yeah, like you'd dare do magic out of school," sneered Malfoy. "Who blacked your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers."

"Who rearranged your face? I'd like to send them—oh wait, that's how you've always looked," retorted Levina. Strangely enough, Draco said nothing; his grey eyes just merely rested on her with a look of great surprise, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, great," he drawled, looking her up and down, "you've become one of them, have you? Decided you like redheads enough to become one?"

Levina snarled at him, realizing that he was having a go at both the Weasleys and Fred again. She knew that she couldn't just explain the fact that she was a Werewolf, so she merely bit her lip tight and shot him a death glare.

"That's quite enough!" said Madam Malkin sharply, looking over her shoulder for support. "Madam—please—"

Narcissa Malfoy strolled out from behind the clothes rack.

"Put those away," she said coldly to Harry, Levina, and Ron. "If you attack my son again, I shall ensure that it is the last thing you ever do."

"Really?" said Harry, taking a step forward. "Going to get a few Death Eater pals to do us in, are you?"

Madam Malkin squealed and clutched at her heart.

"Really, you shouldn't accuse...dangerous thing to say...wands away, please!"

But Harry did not lower his wand. Narcissa Malfoy smiled unpleasantly.

"I see that being Dumbledore's favorite has given you a false sense of security, Harry Potter. But Dumbledore won't always be there to protect you."

Harry looked mockingly all around the shop. "Wow... look at that... he's not here now! So why not have a go? They might be able to find you a double cell in Azkaban with your loser of a husband!"

_That's a little harsh, _thought Levina, in spite of herself.

Draco made an angry movement toward Harry, but stumbled over his overlong robe. Ron laughed loudly.

"Don't you dare talk to my mother like that, Potter!" Draco snarled.

"It's all right, Draco," said Narcissa, restraining him with her thin white fingers upon his shoulder. "I expect Potter will be reunited with dear Sirius before I am reunited with Lucius."

Harry raised his wand higher, and Levina drew her own wand, her anger beginning to rise. Even Destiny pulled out her wand; she wasn't generally pro-violence.

"Harry, Levina, no!" moaned Hermione, grabbing his arm and attempting to push it down by his side. "Think... You mustn't...You'll be in such trouble..."

"Do it," whispered Levina encouragingly through gritted teeth, and Hermione glared at her.

Madam Malkin dithered for a moment on the spot, then seemed to decide to act as though nothing was happening in the hope that it wouldn't. She bent toward Draco, who was still glaring at Harry.

"I think this left sleeve could come up a little bit more, dear, let me just..."

"Ouch!" bellowed Draco, slapping her hand away. "Watch where you're putting your pins, woman! Mother, I don't think I want these anymore."

He pulled the robes over his head and threw them onto the floor at Madam Malkin's feet.

"You're right, Draco," said Narcissa, with a contemptuous glance at Hermione, "now I know the kind of scum that shops here...We'll do better at Twilfitt and Tatting's."

And with that, the pair of them strode out of the shop, Draco taking care to bang as hard as he could into Ron on the way out. As he swept through the door, he glanced back over his shoulder at Levina for a split-second, then vanished around the corner.

"Well, really!" said Madam Malkin, snatching up the fallen robes and moving the tip of her wand over them like a vacuum cleaner, so that it removed all the dust.

"You were right," said Levina to Destiny, her eyes still on the door where the two Malfoys had just left. "They do look pale…"

"I told you!" said Destiny, who had a very sour expression on her fair features. "Connard," she added, glaring after him.

Madam Malkin was distracted all through the fitting of Ron's and Harry's new robes, tried to sell Hermione wizard's dress robes instead of witch's, attempted to give Destiny Hogwarts robes, and when she finally bowed them out of the shop it was with an air of being glad to see the back of them.

"Got ev'rything?" asked Hagrid brightly when they reappeared at his side.

"Just about," said Harry. "Did you see the Malfoys?"

"Yeah," said Hagrid, unconcerned. "But they wouldn' dare make trouble in the middle o' Diagon Alley, Harry. Don' worry about them."

Harry, Ron, Levina, Destiny, and Hermione exchanged looks, but before they could disabuse Hagrid of this comfortable notion, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny appeared, all clutching heavy packages of books.

"Everyone all right?" said Mrs. Weasley. "Got your robes? Right then, we can pop in at the Apothecary and Eeylops on the way to Fred and George's... stick close, now..."

Levina didn't buy anything at the Apothecary, seeing as she was no longer studying Potions, but she and Destiny bought two large boxes of owl nuts for Athena and Celeste at Eeylops Owl Emporium. Then, with Mrs. Weasley checking her watch every minute or so, they headed farther along the street in search of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop run by Fred and George.

"We really haven't got too long," Mrs. Weasley said. "So we'll just have a quick look around and then back to the car. We must be close, that's number ninety-two...ninety-four..."

"Whoa," said Ron, stopping in his tracks, and Levina's jaw dropped.

Set against the dull, poster-muffled shop Fronts around them, Fred and Georges windows hit the eye like a firework display. Casual passersby were looking back over their shoulders at the windows, and a few rather stunned-looking people had actually come to a halt, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked; Levina's eyes began to water just looking at it. The right-hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters:

Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who?  
>You SHOULD Be Worrying About<br>U-NO-POO-  
>the Constipation Sensation That's Gripping the Nation!<p>

Levina burst into laughter, holding her sides as she did so; she was going to miss having this sort of thing around at Hogwarts. She heard a weak sort of moan beside her and looked around to see Mrs. Weasley gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name "U-No-Poo."

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" she whispered.

"No they won't!" said Ron, who, like Levina and Harry, was laughing. "This is brilliant!"

And he, Harry, and Levina led the way into the shop. It was packed with customers; Levina could not get near the shelves. She stared around, looking up at the boxes piled to the ceiling: here were the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts; she noticed that the Nosebleed Nougat was most popular, with only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands, the cheapest merely turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the unwary user around the head and neck, and boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and Levina pushed her way toward the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds was watching a tiny little wooden man slowly ascending the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a box that read: Reusable hangman—spell it or he'll swing!

"'Patented Daydream Charms.'"

Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box bearing a highly colored picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship. Levina moved to the side, squeezing through the crowd, and picked up one of the boxes to read the label curiously.

"'One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens'. You know," said Hermione, looking up at Harry, "that really is extraordinary magic!"

"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "you can have one for free."

A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.

"Fred!" said Levina, grinning excitedly at the sight of him. "Hi!"

For a moment, Fred looked slightly startled at the sight of her. "Levina?" he asked after a second. "Did you decide to become part of the family, or what?"

Levina's face flushed to match her hair. "Oh…well...Werewolf thing…" she said in a whisper.

"Oh," said Fred. Then he grinned. "I think it's a pretty color on you," he added.

Levina was all too aware of Hermione's and Harry's presence there, but she couldn't resist returning the smile like an idiot. "Um…well, thank you, I guess, then."

"You're wearing the ring!" he added, and it took Levina a second to register what he meant.

"Yeah, it's kind of been a daily thing for me," said Levina, shrugging; she'd worn it practically every single day since he'd given it to her.

"Now come here, will you? I mean jeez, I don't see my girlfriend in weeks and all she can do is say, 'hi'?"

Levina felt a great satisfaction rise in her at the word "girlfriend." Beaming, she ran forward and let him wrap his arms around her, pulling her forward to his chest. She leaned into his shoulder, breathing in his smell and his warmth.

A moment later, someone cleared their throat; Levina and Fred parted and looked back to see Harry and Hermione, who were both grinning at them.

"Ah, how are you, Harry?" said Fred, and they shook hands. "And what's happened to your eye, Hermione?"

"Your punching telescope," she said ruefully.

"Oh blimey, I forgot about those," said Fred. "Here..."

He pulled a tub out of his pocket and handed it to her; she unscrewed it gingerly to reveal a thick yellow paste.

"Just dab it on, that bruise'll be gone within the hour," said Fred. "We had to find a decent bruise-remover. We're testing most of our products on ourselves."

Hermione looked nervous. "It is safe, isn't it?" she asked.

"Course it is," said Fred bracingly. "Come on, Harry, I'll give you a tour. You too, beautiful," he added to Levina. "You can take anything, by the way, free of charge."

"Oh, wow!" said Levina, overwhelmed by everything happening at once. "But, I couldn't just—"

"You can," said Fred, tossing her one of the Patented Daydream Charms. "And if you happen to use that, you better be dreaming of me," he added with a wink.

"I—well—thank you, Fred!" said Levina appreciatively.

"No problem," said Fred. "This way, then…"

Harry and Levina left Hermione dabbing her black eye with paste and followed Fred toward the back of the shop, where she saw a stand of card and rope tricks.

"Muggle magic tricks!" said Fred happily, pointing them out. "For freaks like Dad, you know, who love Muggle stuff. It's not a big earner, but we do fairly steady business, they're great novelties... Oh, here's George..."

Fred's twin shook Harry's hand energetically and gave Levina a second hug, although not nearly as long as Fred's. Destiny was standing at his side, holding his hand with her right and examining a pink bottle of something in her left.

"Hi, Levina. Giving them the tour? Come through the back, you two, that's where we're making the real money... pocket anything, you, and you'll pay in more than Galleons!" he added warningly to a small boy who hastily whipped his hand out of the tub labeled: Edible Dark Marks—They'll Make Anyone Sick!

George pushed back a curtain beside the Muggle tricks and Levina saw a darker, less crowded room. The packaging on the products lining these shelves was more subdued.

"We've just developed this more serious line," said Fred. "Funny how it happened..."

"You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm," said George. "'Course, they didn't have you teaching them, Harry."

"That's right... Well, we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh, you know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"

"_What?" _said Levina.

"I know; so we've expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves..."

"... I mean, they wouldn't help much against the Unforgivable Curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes..."

"And then we thought we'd get into the whole area of Defense Against the Dark Arts, because it's such a money spinner," continued George enthusiastically. "This is cool. Look, Instant Darkness Powder, we're importing it from Peru. Handy if you want to make a quick escape."

"And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves, look," said Fred, pointing at a number of weird-looking black horn-type objects that were indeed attempting to scurry out of sight. "You just drop one surreptitiously and it'll run off and make a nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you need one."

"Handy," said Harry, impressed.

"Here," said George, catching a couple and throwing them to Harry and Levina.

A young witch with short blonde hair poked her head around the curtain; Levina saw that she too was wearing magenta staff robes.

"There's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley," she said.

Levina smirked and looked up at Fred. "'Mr. Weasley'?" she said.

"Right you are, Verity, I'm coming," said George promptly. "Harry, you help yourself to anything you want, all right? No charge."

"I can't do that!" said Harry, who had already pulled out his money bag to pay for the Decoy Detonators.

"You don't pay here," said Fred firmly, waving away Harry's gold.

"But..."

"You gave us our start-up loan, we haven't forgotten," said George sternly. "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it, if they ask."

George swept off through the curtain to help with the customers, Destiny following behind him at his side, waving to Levina as she exited.

"So, Mr. Weasley," said Levina, looking up at Fred, "how have you been? I…well, I haven't heard much from you this summer…" She knew she was being blunt, but she felt as though he had been blowing her off.

"Oh, yeah, I know," said Fred, looking slightly ashamed with himself. "I _told _George to include me in his letters to Destiny, but I have a feeling he didn't…I've been so busy, I suppose. Forgive me?" he added, looking down at her.

"Of course," said Levina, feeling slightly better with the explanation, and Fred led her and Harry back into the main part of the shop, where Hermione and Ginny were still poring over the Patented Daydream Charms.

"Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" asked Fred. "Follow me, ladies..."

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

"There you go," said Fred proudly. "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere."

Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Do they work?" she asked.

"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question—"

"—and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've—"

"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"

"Guaranteed Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"

"Yes, I am," said Ginny. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?"

She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.

"Pygmy Puffs," said George. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"

"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," said Ginny, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"

"They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"

Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil.

"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you," she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"

"Aw, they _are _really cute," said Levina, now gazing at the Pygmy Puffs. She wondered if Lilypad would be upset if she brought one home.

"Want one?" said Fred, looking over her shoulder.

"Oh, well…" she mumbled, watching them roll all over the place. "I dunno…I mean, I guess I wouldn't mind having one around…"

Fred shrugged. "Then why don't you take one?"

Levina stuck one of her fingers in the cage and a light pink one bounded over to it, nuzzling up to her. "Oh, jeez," she said as it jumped up and down excitedly. "I think I might just have to get that one."

"Here, let me take it out," said Fred, taking a key out of his jacket pocket.

"How much are they?" said Levina, checking her bag.

"I already told you; you don't need to pay for anything."

"But I want to," said Levina, taking out several coins. "I repeat: How much?"

"I'm not telling you," said Fred stubbornly. He removed the Pygmy Puff and put it in the palm of her hand, grinning.

"Fine," said Levina, and she removed a Galleon from her bag. "Oh, oops," she added, dropping it very obviously onto the floor. "Oh, look, a Galleon…Someone should really take it, don't you think?"

"Very funny," said Fred, stooping to pick it up. "Clever. Now here, take it bac—"

"Ron has some stuff he needs to buy," said Levina, gesturing to Ron. "Don't neglect your brother."

Fred rolled his eyes. "That's three Galleons, nine Sickles, and a Knut," he said, examining the many boxes in Ron's arms. "Cough up."

"I'm your brother!"

"And that's our stuff you're nicking. Three Galleons, nine Sickles. I'll knock off the Knut."

"But I haven't got three Galleons, nine Sickles!"

"You'd better put it back then, and mind you put it on the right shelves."

Ron dropped several boxes, swore, and made a rude hand gesture at Fred that was unfortunately spotted by Mrs. Weasley, who had chosen that moment to appear.

"If I see you do that again I'll jinx your fingers together," she said sharply.

"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" said Ginny at once.

"A what?" said Mrs. Weasley warily.

"Look, they're so sweet..."

While Mrs. Weasley turned to examine them, Levina brushed past the others and found Destiny at the back of the shop, talking to George, with a handful of objects in her arms. The pair of them searched through the rest of the items, taking various things from the shelves before returning to the front of the store, where the others were gathered. As Levina discussed with Destiny what she should name her Pygmy Puff, she suddenly noticed someone moving outside the window: Draco Malfoy was hurrying up the street alone. As he passed Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, he glanced over his shoulder. Seconds later, he moved beyond the scope of the window and she lost sight of him.

"Did you lot see that?" said Levina to the others.

"Wonder where his mummy is?" said Harry, frowning.

"Given her the slip by the looks of it," said Ron.

"Why, though?" said Hermione.

Levina shrugged. "With a mother that clingy, who _wouldn't _try to get away?"

But Harry wore strange, suspicious expression on his face; Levina wondered what he was thinking, but she didn't ask.

"Get under here, quick," said Harry suddenly, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag.

"What?" said Levina; she glanced over her shoulder, where Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were still examining the Pygmy Puffs. Fred and George were busy helping customers.

"Oh—I don't know, Harry," said Hermione, looking uncertainly toward Mrs. Weasley.

"Come on," said Ron.

Hermione hesitated for a second longer, then ducked under the cloak with Harry and Ron. Levina shrugged and slipped under it as well; Destiny had moved back to where George was, enthusiastically talking about something, so she didn't bother calling her over. Nobody noticed them vanish; they were all too interested in Fred and George's products. Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione squeezed their way out of the door as quickly as they could, but by the time they gained the street, Draco had disappeared just as successfully as they had.

"He was going in that direction," murmured Harry as quietly as possible, so that the humming Hagrid would not hear them. "C'mon..."

They scurried along, peering left and right, through shop windows and doors, until Hermione pointed ahead.

"That's him, isn't it?" she whispered. "Turning left?"

"I think so," said Levina, squinting.

"Big surprise," whispered Ron.

For Draco had glanced around, then slid into Knockturn Alley and out of sight.

"What business does he have in Knockturn Alley?" said Levina.

"Quick, or we'll lose him," said Harry, speeding up.

"Our feet'll be seen!" said Hermione anxiously, as the cloak flapped a little around their ankles; it was much more difficult hiding all four of them under the cloak nowadays, compared to when they were short kids.

"It doesn't matter," said Harry impatiently. "Just hurry!"

But Knockturn Alley, the side street devoted to the Dark Arts, looked completely deserted. They peered into windows as they passed, but none of the shops seemed to have any customers at all. Levina wondered if people were afraid of being caught purchasing Dark objects.

Hermione gave Harry's arm a hard pinch.

"Ouch!"

"Shh! Look! He's in there!" she breathed.

"Where?" said Levina.

They had drawn level with a shop called Borgin and Burkes. There in the midst of the cases full of skulls and old bottles stood Draco Malfoy with his back to them, just visible beyond a large black cabinet. Judging by the movements of Draco's hands, he was talking animatedly. The proprietor of the shop who was an oily-haired, stooping man, stood facing Draco. He was wearing a curious expression of mingled resentment and fear.

"If only we could hear what they're saying!" said Hermione.

"I might be able to," said Levina, straining her canine ears.

"We can!" said Ron excitedly to Hermione. "Hang on—damn."

He dropped a couple more of the boxes he was still clutching as he fumbled with the largest.

"Extendable Ears, look!"

"Fantastic!" said Hermione, as Ron unraveled the long, flesh-colored strings and began to feed them toward the bottom of the door. "Oh, I hope the door isn't Imperturbable—"

"No!" said Ron gleefully. "Listen!"

They put their heads together and listened intently to the ends of the strings, while Levina merely put her ear closer to the door and listened hard.

"... you know how to fix it?" said Draco's voice.

"Possibly," said Borgin, in a tone that suggested he was unwilling to commit himself. "I'll need to see it, though. Why don't you bring it into the shop?"

"I can't," said Malfoy. "It's got to stay put. I just need you to tell me how to do it."

Levina saw Borgin lick his lips nervously.

"Well, without seeing it, I must say it will be a very difficult job, perhaps impossible. I couldn't guarantee anything."

"No?" said Draco, and Levina could tell, by his tone, that Draco was sneering. "Perhaps this will make you more confident."

He moved toward Borgin and was blocked from view by the cabinet. Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione shuffled sideways to try and keep him in sight, but all they could see was Borgin, looking very frightened.

"Tell anyone," said Draco, "and there will be retribution. You know Fenrir Greyback? He's a family friend. He'll be dropping in from time to time to make sure you're giving the problem your full attention."

"Fenrir?" hissed Levina, her eyes narrowing in anger. "The Werewolf?"

"There will be no need for—"

"I'll decide that," said Draco. "Well, I'd better be off. And don't forget to keep that one safe, I'll need it."

"Perhaps you'd like to take it now?"

"No, of course I wouldn't, you stupid, little man, how would I look carrying that down the street? Just don't sell it."

"Of course not...sir."

Borgin made a very deep bow.

"Not a word to anyone, Borgin, and that includes my mother, understand?"

"Naturally, naturally," murmured Borgin, bowing again.

Next moment, the bell over the door tinkled loudly as Draco stalked out of the shop looking very pleased with himself. He passed so close to Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione that they felt the cloak flutter around their knees again. Inside the shop, Borgin remained frozen; his unctuous smile had vanished; he looked worried.

"What was that about?" whispered Ron, reeling in the Extendable Ears.

"Dunno," said Harry. "He wants something mended...and he wants to reserve something in there... Could you see what he pointed at when he said 'that one'?"

"No, he was behind that cabinet—"

"What did he show him when he was like, 'perhaps this will make you more confident,' or whatever?" said Levina.

"No idea…"

"You three stay here," whispered Hermione.

"What are you—?"

But Hermione had already ducked out from under the cloak. She checked her hair in the reflection in the glass, then marched into the shop, setting the bell tinkling again. Ron hastily fed the Extendable Ears back under the door and passed one of the strings to Harry, while Levina pressed her ears back up against the door again.

"Hello, horrible morning, isn't it?" Hermione said brightly to Borgin, who did not answer, but cast her a suspicious look. Humming cheerily, Hermione strolled through the jumble of objects on display.

"Is this necklace for sale?" she asked, pausing beside a glass-fronted case.

"If you've got one and a half thousand Galleons," said Mr. Borgin coldly.

"Oh—er—no, I haven't got quite that much," said Hermione, walking on. "And...what about this lovely—um—skull?"

Levina felt like smacking her forehead.

"Sixteen Galleons."

"So it's for sale, then? It isn't being...kept for anyone?"

Mr. Borgin squinted at her. Levina had the nasty feeling he knew exactly what Hermione was up to; she _was _being incredibly obvious. Apparently Hermione felt she had been rumbled too because she suddenly threw caution to the winds.

"The thing is, that—er—boy who was in here just now, Draco Malfoy, well, he's a friend of mine, and I want to get him a birthday present, but if he's already reserved anything, I obviously don't want to get him the same thing, so...um..."

_Oh, come on! _Thought Levina. _You're smart, Hermione! Can't you come up with anything better than that? _Apparently Borgin thought the same thing.

"Out," said Borgin sharply. "Get out!"

Hermione did not wait to be asked twice, but hurried to the door with Borgin at her heels. As the bell tinkled again, Borgin slammed the door behind her and put up the closed sign.

"Ah well," said Ron, throwing the cloak back over Hermione. "Worth a try, but you were a bit obvious—"

"Well, next time you can show me how it's done, Master of Mystery!" she snapped.

Ron and Hermione bickered all the way back to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, where they were forced to stop so that they could dodge undetected around a very anxious-looking Mrs. Weasley and Hagrid, who had clearly noticed their absence. Once in the shop, Harry whipped off the Invisibility Cloak, hid it in his bag, and joined in with the other three when they insisted, in answer to Mrs. Weasleys accusations, that they had been in the back room all along, and that she could not have looked properly.

Destiny, of course, later demanded that Levina tell her what was up; she knew that, had Levina still been in the shop, she would have been glued to Fred's side, "blubbering incoherently like an idiot", as she put it.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, guys! So, how did you enjoy this chapter? Thoughts? Leave a review! (Sorry it was a bit shorter than my usual chapters)<strong>

**Anyways, I was hoping to take a poll on something, if any of you are interested:**

**In a review, put who you want Levina to end up with: Fred? Or…someone else? ;) I, of course, will sadly not take any opinions into account, as I have already planned out the series, but I'm just curious as to what you think.**

**Review Responses:**

**Zoekat13: Thanks! (: I'm getting better at updating sooner**

**Flower gettin' Lady: Haha, I know! I love Ron :D And actually, I originally had Levina's hair color change, so it worked out perfectly that Hilly had red hair; and yeah, there'll be a lot of Draco in this book ;)**

**xXxDragonxPhoenixXx: Yeah, actually I wasn't either haha :) And thanks, I'm really glad you liked it! I love the Half Blood Prince; it's my favorite Harry Potter book. **

**Things to come: The Slug Club, The Hogwarts Express, and more!**


	3. The Slug Club

**Merry Christmas! **

**Disclaimer: I really want a Pygmy Puff...which I do not own! Jk Rowling does, and I'm not her, so...yeah.**

* * *

><p>Levina spent a lot of the last week of the holidays wondering about Draco had been up to…Thinking of whatever it could have been that Draco showed Borgin and of the triumphant look on his made her uneasy. Of course, she figured it was his business if he wanted to be a creep, so she tried to not let it bother her too much. Harry, however, seemed positively obsessed with Draco's odd behavior, and found it annoying that Hermione, Ron, and Levina seemed less curious about Draco's activities as he was; or at least, they became bored of discussing it after a few days.<p>

"Yes, I've already agreed it was fishy, Harry," said Hermione a little impatiently. She was sitting on the windowsill in Fred and George's room with her feet up on one of the cardboard boxes and had only grudgingly looked up from her new copy of Advanced Rune Translation. "But haven't we agreed there could be a lot of explanations?"

"Maybe he's broken his Hand of Glory," said Ron vaguely, as he attempted to straighten his broomstick's bent tail twigs. "Remember that shriveled-up arm Malfoy had?"

"But what about when he said, 'Don't forget to keep that one safe'?" asked Harry for the umpteenth time. "That sounded to me like Borgin's got another one of the broken objects, and Malfoy wants both."

"You reckon?" said Ron, now trying to scrape some dirt off his broom handle.

"Yeah, I do," said Harry.

"Maybe he just had a pair of broken quills or something," said Destiny, shrugging.

"That's naive of you," said Harry. "There's no way he would go to a dark shop like that to fix a couple of quills…"

Levina snorted. _"Why _is it such a big deal to you what he's up to, Harry?" she demanded. "If I were him, I wouldn't want four Gryffindors…or, Slytherins, in my case, tailing me around wherever I went."

"But Malfoy's father's in Azkaban," Harry insisted. "Don't you think Malfoy'd like revenge?"

Ron looked up, blinking. "Malfoy, revenge? What can he do about it?"

"That's my point, I don't know!" said Harry, frustrated. "But he's up to something and I think we should take it seriously. His father's a Death Eater and—"

Harry broke off, his eyes fixed on the window behind Hermione, his mouth open, as though something startling had occurred to him.

"You all right?" said Levina uncertainly.

"Harry?" said Hermione in an anxious voice. "What's wrong?"

"Your scar's not hurting again, is it?" asked Ron nervously.

"He's a Death Eater," said Harry slowly. "He's replaced his father as a Death Eater!"

There was a silence; then Ron erupted in laughter. "Malfoy? He's sixteen, Harry! You think You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join?"

"What use would he have for _Malfoy?" _said Levina, smirking at the absurdity of Harry's idea.

"It seems very unlikely, Harry," said Hermione in a repressive sort of voice. "What makes you think—?"

"In Madam Malkin's. She didn't touch him, but he yelled and jerked his arm away from her when she went to roll up his sleeve. It was his left arm. He's been branded with the Dark Mark."

Ron, Destiny, Levina, and Hermione looked at each other.

"Well..." said Ron, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

"I think he just wanted to get out of there, Harry," said Hermione.

"We live next door to the Malfoys," said Destiny, frowning deeply. "I probably would have noticed something on his arm—"

"He hasn't been around much, though," said Levina. Then she shook her head. "But still! That doesn't prove Draco's a—a _Death Eater_!"

"He showed Borgin something we couldn't see," Harry pressed on stubbornly. "Something that seriously scared Borgin. It was the Mark, I know it—he was showing Borgin who he was dealing with, you saw how seriously Borgin took him!"

Ron, Destiny, Levina, and Hermione exchanged another look.

"I'm not sure, Harry..."

"Yeah, I still don't reckon You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join..."

"He's too young…"

Looking very annoyed, Harry snatched up a pile of filthy Quidditch robes and left the room.

The following morning, their departure was smoother than usual. The Ministry cars glided up to the front of the Burrow to find them waiting, trunks packed; Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, and Levina's cat, Lilypad, safely enclosed in their traveling baskets; and Hedwig; Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon; Athena; Celeste, Destiny's owl; and Ginny's new purple Pygmy Puff, Arnold, in cages.

Levina had her own pink Pygmy Puff, which she'd named Fred, enclosed in a cage as well. As they waited, Destiny nudged Levina's shoulder.

"Guess what I got while we were in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" she whispered, giggling.

"What?" said Levina, sincerely hoping it wasn't a love potion.

Destiny reached into a small cage on the top of her luggage, where a purple Pygmy Puff was rolling about inside.

"It's for Eric," she continued, still grinning her pearly-white teeth.

Levina snorted. "You think _Eric _wants that?" she demanded; she had trouble picturing Eric, with his dark hair, earrings, and scars, with a Pygmy Puff.

"Well, good luck," said Destiny, hugging Levina tightly; she was waiting for Eric to come pick her up and bring her to Beauxbatons Academy, her school. "I hope everything goes well."

"Thanks," said Levina, "you too. Send me lots of mail, okay?"

"Okay," said Destiny happily.

"Au revoir, 'Arry," said Fleur throatily, kissing him goodbye. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur's feet. Furious, red-faced, and dirt-spattered, he hurried into the car without saying goodbye.

"I hope I'll see you again sometime soon," said Destiny, hugging Fleur. She then turned to the others and hugged Hermione, kissed Harry on the cheek, and waved to the rest; Ron didn't bother getting out of the car; he was still brooding, apparently fearful of making a fool of himself again.

There was no cheerful Hagrid waiting for them at King's Cross Station. Instead, two grim-faced, bearded Aurors in dark Muggle suits moved forward the moment the cars stopped and, flanking the party, marched them into the station without speaking.

"Quick, quick, through the barrier," said Mrs. Weasley, who seemed a little flustered by this austere efficiency. "Harry had better go first, with—"

She looked inquiringly at one of the Aurors, who nodded briefly, seized Harry's upper arm, and attempted to steer him toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"I can walk, thanks," said Harry irritably, jerking his arm out of the Auror's grip. He pushed his trolley directly at the solid barrier and vanished.

"You next, Levina, dear—" said Mrs. Weasley, urging Levina forward. The other Auror just about shoved Levina roughly towards the platform; Levina snarled at him.

"Don't touch me," she snapped; since her encounter with Umbridge the previous year, she was more irritable when it came to anyone forceful. Charging through the wall in a sprint, she found herself, a second later, standing on platform nine and three-quarters, where the scarlet Hogwarts Express stood belching steam over the crowd.

Hermione and the Weasleys joined her within seconds. Without waiting to consult his own grim-faced Auror, Harry motioned to Ron, Levina, and Hermione to follow him up the platform, looking for an empty compartment.

"We can't, Harry," said Hermione, looking apologetic. "Ron and I've got to go to the prefects' carriage first and then patrol the corridors for a bit."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Harry.

"You'd better get straight on the train, all of you, you've only got a few minutes to go," said Mrs. Weasley, consulting her watch. "Well, have a lovely term, Ron..."

"Well, let's go, then, Harry—" said Levina, but Harry was saying something to Mr. Weasley:

"Mr. Weasley, can I have a quick word?"

"Of course," said Mr. Weasley, who looked slightly surprised, but followed Harry out of earshot of the others nevertheless.

Levina sighed; she had a feeling, from Harry's expression, that he wanted to discuss his suspicions about Draco with Mr. Weasley. After a minute, however, there a whistle behind Levina; nearly everyone had boarded the train and the doors were closing.

"You'd better hurry!" said Mr. Weasley, as Mrs. Weasley cried, "Harry, Levina, quickly!"

She and Harry hurried forward and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley helped her load her trunk and Harry's onto the train.

"Now, dears, you're coming to us for Christmas, it's all fixed with Dumbledore, so we'll see you two quite soon," said Mrs. Weasley through the window, as Harry slammed the door shut behind them and the train began to move. "You make sure you look after yourself and—"

The train was gathering speed.

"—be good and—" She was jogging to keep up now.

"—stay safe!"

Levina and Harry waved until the train had turned a corner and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were lost to view, then turned to see where the others had got to. She knew Ron and Hermione were probably somewhere in the prefects' carriage, but Ginny was a little way along the corridor, chatting to some friends. Harry made his way toward her, dragging his trunk, and Levina followed.

People stared shamelessly as they approached. They even pressed their faces against the windows of their compartments to get a look at Harry, and Levina wondered if he found it annoying. If he did, he didn't show it, however, and he merely continued down the train till he reached Ginny.

"Fancy trying to find a compartment?"

"I can't, Harry, I said I'd meet Dean," said Ginny brightly. "See you later."

"Right," said Harry, looking slightly annoyed.

"It's all right; we can find another compartment," said Levina. Then she blinked and looked around: they were surrounded by mesmerized girls, who were all staring eagerly at Harry.

"Oh, great…" said Levina, adjusting her luggage so that it was weighted on her other shoulder.

"Hi, Harry, Levina!" said a familiar voice from behind them. Levina looked around to see the round face of Neville Longbottom.

"Neville!" said Harry in relief.

"Hi, Neville," said Levina, glad to have found someone else.

"Hello, Harry, Levina," said a girl with long hair and large misty eyes, who was just behind Neville.

"Luna, hi, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you," said Luna. She was clutching a magazine to her chest; large letters on the front announced that there was a pair of free Spectrespecs inside.

"'Spectrespecs?" said Levina.

"Yes," said Luna. She didn't explain what they were.

"The Quibbler still going strong, then?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes, circulation's well up," said Luna happily. "Got sick of brown?" she added to Levina, who frowned.

"What?"

"Your hair," she said, pointing at it.

"Oh…yeah," said Levina, shrugging; she didn't want to have to explain again.

"Let's find seats," said Harry, and the three of them set off along the train through hordes of silently staring students. At last they found an empty compartment, and Levina hurried inside gratefully.

"They're even staring at us," said Neville, indicating himself, Levina, and Luna. "Because we're with you!"

Levina felt a twinge of annoyance at the word "even." Normally, although very annoying, people stared admirably in her direction wherever she walked. Now? Now she was just an even…

"They're staring at you because you were at the Ministry too," said Harry, as he hoisted his trunk into the luggage rack, along with Levina's. "Our little adventure there was all over the Daily Prophet, you must've seen it."

"Yes, I thought Gran would be angry about all the publicity," said Neville, "but she was really pleased. Says I'm starting to live up to my dad at long last. She bought me a new wand, look!"

He pulled it out and showed it to Harry.

"Cherry and unicorn hair," he said proudly. "We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold, he vanished next day—oi, come back here, Trevor!"

And he dived under the seat to retrieve his toad as it made one of its frequent bids for freedom.

"Are we still doing D.A. meetings this year, Harry?" asked Luna, who was detaching a pair of psychedelic spectacles from the middle of The Quibbler.

"Why would we?" said Levina, frowning.

"No point now we've got rid of Umbridge, is there?" said Harry, sitting down. Neville bumped his head against the seat as he emerged from under it. He looked most disappointed.

"I liked the D.A.! I learned loads with you!"

"I enjoyed the meetings too," said Luna serenely. "It was like having friends."

"But we are your friends," Levina protested uncomfortably. Before Luna could respond, however, there was a disturbance outside their compartment door; a group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass.

"You ask him!"

No, you!

"I'll do it!"

And one of them, a bold-looking girl with large dark eyes, a prominent chin, and long black hair pushed her way through the door.

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," she said loudly and confidently. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper, indicating Neville's bottom, which was sticking out from under the seat again as he groped around for Trevor, and Luna, who was now wearing her free Spectrespecs, which gave her the look of a demented, multicolored owl.

"They're friends of mine," said Harry coldly.

"Oh," said the girl, looking very surprised. "Oh. Okay."

And she withdrew, sliding the door closed behind her. As she turned the corner, Levina flashed her a very rude hand gesture.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said Luna, once again displaying her knack for embarrassing honesty.

"You are cool," said Harry shortly. "None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

"That's a very nice thing to say," beamed Luna. Then she pushed her Spectrespecs farther up her nose and settled down to read The Quibbler.

"We didn't face him, though," said Neville, emerging from under the seat with fluff and dust in his hair and a resigned-looking Trevor in his hand. "You and Levina. You should hear my gran talk about you. 'That Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!' She'd give anything to have you as a grandson..."

Harry laughed uncomfortably and changed the subject to O.W.L. results, which Levina jumped on instantly, glad to not discuss the matter further. Sure, she'd faced Voldemort. But what did that matter? Harry was, undoubtedly, the Chosen One. She hated how much jealousy was pulsing through her. Harry was her _friend, _not some enemy Slytherin she was competing with! And yet…

"You two all right? You look funny," said Neville, and Levina started.

"Oh…yeah," she mumbled, shaking her head.

"Sorry—I—"

"Wrackspurt got you?" asked Luna sympathetically, peering at them through her enormous colored spectacles.

"I—what?"

"A Wrackspurt... They're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy," she said. "I thought I felt one zooming around in here."

She flapped her hands at thin air, as though beating off large invisible moths. Levina smirked and hastily dove into a conversation involving Quidditch with Harry and Neville, hoping Luna hadn't noticed her snickers.

The weather beyond the train windows was as patchy as it had been all summer; they passed through stretches of the chilling mist, then out into weak, clear sunlight. It was during one of the clear spells, when the sun was visible almost directly overhead, that Ron and Hermione entered the compartment at last.

"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," said Ron longingly, slumping into the seat beside Harry and rubbing his stomach. "Hi, Neville. Hi, Luna. Guess what?" he added, turning to Harry and Levina. "Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

Harry sat up straight, clearly interested, and even Levina looked up from the Werewolf book she had her nose in. It was not like Draco to pass up the chance to demonstrate his power as prefect, which he had happily abused all the previous year.

"What did he do when he saw you?" said Harry.

"The usual," said Ron indifferently, demonstrating a rude hand gesture. "Not like him, though, is it? Well... that is"—he did the hand gesture again—"but why isn't he out there bullying first years?"

"Dunno," said Harry.

"Maybe he's finally gotten some sense," said Levina.

"Maybe he preferred the Inquisitorial Squad," said Hermione. "Maybe being a prefect seems a bit tame after that."

"I don't think so," said Harry. "I think he's—"

But before he could expound on his theory, the compartment door slid open again and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside.

"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Levina Snowpetal, and Harry P-Potter," she faltered, as her eyes met Harry's and she turned scarlet. Levina rolled her eyes. The girl was holding out three scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon. Perplexed, Harry, Levina, and Neville took the scroll addressed to each of them and the girl stumbled back out of the compartment.

"What is it?" Ron demanded, as Levina unrolled hers.

"An invitation," said Harry.

Levina,  
>I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.<br>Sincerely, Professor H.E.F. Slughorn

"Who's Professor Slughorn?" asked Neville, looked perplexedly at his own invitation.

"New teacher," said Harry. "Well, I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"

"Why does he want _me_?" hissed Levina icily. "I've never even met him!"

"And what does he want me for?" asked Neville nervously, as though he was expecting detention.

"No idea," said Harry. "Listen," he added after a second, "let's go under the Invisibility Cloak, then we might get a good look at Malfoy on the way, see what he's up to."

Levina sighed deeply, but she agreed nevertheless. It didn't matter, however, for the corridors, which were packed with people on the lookout for the lunch trolley, were impossible to negotiate while wearing the cloak. Harry stowed it regretfully back in his bag. Every now and then, students would hurtle out of their compartments to get a better look at Harry. The exception was Cho Chang, who darted into her compartment when she saw them coming. As Harry passed the window, Levina saw her deep in determined conversation with her friend Marietta, who was wearing a very thick layer of makeup that did not entirely obscure the odd formation of pimples still etched across her face. Smirking slightly, Levina and Harry pressed on.

When they reached compartment C, they saw at once that they were not Slughorn's only invitees, although judging by the enthusiasm of Slughorn's welcome, Harry was the most warmly anticipated.

"Harry, m'boy!" said Slughorn, jumping up at the sight of him so that his great velvet-covered belly seemed to fill all the remaining space in the compartment. He had a shiny bald head and a great silvery mustache that gleamed as brightly in the sunlight as the golden buttons on his waistcoat. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom and Levina Snowpetal! Welcome, welcome! I've been looking forward to meeting you," he added to Levina, who flushed awkwardly.

Neville nodded, looking scared. At a gesture from Slughorn, Harry and Neville sat down opposite each other in two empty seats, which were nearest the door. Levina sat down beside Harry, sinking into her seat under the gaze of everyone in the room. There was a Slytherin from their year, a tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes; there were also two seventh-year boys Levina did not know and, squashed in the corner beside Slughorn and looking as though she was not entirely sure how she had got there, Ginny.

"Now, do you know everyone?" Slughorn asked Harry and Neville. "Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course—"

Zabini did not make any sign of recognition or greeting, nor did Harry, Levina, or Neville: Gryffindor and Slytherin students loathed each other on principle.

"This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other—? No?"

McLaggen, a large, wiry-haired youth, raised a hand, and the three of them nodded back at him, but Levina couldn't help but notice that, even as she lowered her hand and glanced away, McLaggen's watchful eyes were on her, looking her up and down. She determinedly looked in any direction but his, hoping he would look away, but he didn't.

"—and this is Marcus Belby, I don't know whether—?"

Belby, who was thin and nervous-looking, gave a strained smile.

"—and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn finished.

Ginny grimaced at Harry, Levina, and Neville from behind Slughorn's back.

"Well now, this is most pleasant," said Slughorn cozily. "A chance to get to know you all a little better. Here, take a napkin. I've packed my own lunch; the trolley, as I remember it, is heavy on Licorice Wands, and a poor old man's digestive system isn't quite up to such things...Pheasant, Belby?"

Belby started, and accepted what looked like half a cold pheasant.

"I was just telling young Marcus here that I had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damocles," Slughorn told Harry and Neville, now passing around a basket of rolls. "Outstanding wizard, outstanding, and his Order of Merlin most well-deserved. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"

Unfortunately, Beiby had just taken a large mouthful of pheasant; in his haste to answer Slughorn he swallowed too fast, turned purple, and began to choke.

"Anapneo," said Slughorn calmly, pointing his wand at Belby, whose airway seemed to clear at once.

"Not...not much of him, no," gasped Belby, his eyes streaming.

"Well, of course, I daresay he's busy," said Slughorn, looking questioningly at Belby. "I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane Potion without considerable hard work!"

"I suppose..." said Belby, who seemed afraid to take another bite of pheasant until he was sure that Slughorn had finished with him. "Er... he and my dad don't get on very well, you see, so I don't really know much about..."

His voice tailed away as Slughorn gave him a cold smile and turned to McLaggen instead.

"Now, you, Cormac," said Slughorn, "I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting Nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"

"Oh, yeah, that was fun, that was," said McLaggen. "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour-this was before he became Minister, obviously-"

"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus too?" beamed Slughorn, now offering around a small tray of pies; somehow, Belby was missed out. "Now tell me..."

Levina frowned, looking about the room as she analyzed each person. Everyone here seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known or influential... everyone except Ginny. Zabini, who was interrogated after McLaggen, turned out to have a famously beautiful witch for a mother (from what Harry could make out, she had been married seven times, each of her husbands dying mysteriously and leaving her mounds of gold). It was Neville's turn next: this was a very uncomfortable ten minutes, for Neville's parents, well-known Aurors, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple of Death Eater cronies. At the end of Neville's interview, Levina had the impression that Slughorn was reserving judgment on Neville, yet to see whether he had any of his parents' flair.

"And of course, Levina Snowpetal," said Slughorn, turning his eyes on her. "I've heard many, many things about you…Some presumed you to be dead years ago, am I right? Word is, you vanished after…after that horrific night, to live with Muggles."

Levina made no indication that she'd heard him.

"A horrible, horrible shame," said Slughorn, shaking his head. "I knew both of your parents; taught them both, I did. Of course, your mother used to be a very diligent student, that is, until she met your father and Harry's, am I right?"

Levina shrugged. What did he expect, for her to know everything about her parents just because of her frequent flashbacks about them?

"I'm not entirely certain, sir," said Levina; she could feel McLaggen watching her again. "I don't remember anything really, and my parents never told me anything…"

"But, is the word true?" he asked, leaning forward to look her in the eye. "That the reason behind that attack that night was because of amazing magical abilities that you possess?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said Levina; she, of course, didn't actually know anything about her powers besides the color-changing, ability to speak to dragons, and magic without a wand. "I don't know a whole lot…."

Slughorn looked as though he knew she was holding back. "I see," he said quietly. "But they must be pretty powerful, if You-Know-Who himself is after you, I hear?"

Levina shrugged. "I'm not the 'Chosen One,' or whatever," she said softly, and Harry jerked his head in her direction. "I'm not worth a whole lot.

"But he's still after you, no?" said Slughorn, eyebrows raised. "There must be _some _reason for that."

At these words, Levina's heart seemed to lift and fall at the same time. "Er…well, yes, I suppose so."

"And, dare I ask, did you inherit any certain…genes from your mother?" said Slughorn cautiously. "Any conditions?"

Levina grit her teeth. She wanted to inform him that it was none of her business, but instead, she said coolly, "well, I don't know about 'conditions,' but people say I'm the spitting image of her."

"That you are," said Slughorn, seeming to catch on to her hesitation. "And now," he added, shifting massively in his seat with the air of a compeer introducing his star act. "Harry Potter! Where to begin? I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer!"

He contemplated Harry for a moment as though he was a particularly large and succulent piece of pheasant, then said, "'The Chosen One,' they're calling you now!"

Harry said nothing. Belby, McLaggen, and Zabini were all staring at him.

"Of course," said Slughorn, watching Harry closely, "there have been rumors for years... I remember when—well—after that terrible night—Lily—James—and you survived—and the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary—or maybe more of Levina's talent," he added, beaming at Levina.

Zabini gave a tiny little cough that was clearly supposed to indicate amused skepticism. An angry voice burst out from behind Slughorn.

"Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented...at posing..."

"Oh dear!" chuckled Slughorn comfortably, looking around at Ginny, who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!"

Zabini merely looked contemptuous.

"Anyway," said Slughorn, turning back to Harry. "Such rumors this summer. Of course, one doesn't know what to believe, the Prophet has been known to print inaccuracies, make mistakes... but there seems little doubt, given the number of witnesses, that there was quite a disturbance at the Ministry and that you were there in the thick of it all!"

Harry nodded but still said nothing. Slughorn beamed at him.

"So modest, so modest, no wonder Dumbledore is so fond-you were there, then? But the rest of the stories—so sensational, of course, one doesn't know quite what to believe—this fabled prophecy, for instance—"

"We never heard a prophecy," said Neville, turning geranium pink as he said it.

"We didn't actually hear _anything_," said Levina.

"That's right," said Ginny staunchly. "Neville and I were both there too, and all this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual."

"You were both there too, were you?" said Slughorn with great interest, looking from Ginny to Neville, but both of them sat clam-like before his encouraging smile. "Yes...well...it is true that the Prophet often exaggerates, of course..." Slughorn said, sounding a little disappointed. "I remember dear Gwenog telling me (Gwenog Jones, I mean, of course, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies)-"

He meandered off into a long-winded reminiscence, but Levina had the distinct impression that Slughorn had not finished with her and Harry, and that he had not been convinced by her, Neville and Ginny.

The afternoon wore on with more anecdotes about illustrious wizards Slughorn had taught, all of whom had been delighted to join what he called the "Slug Club" at Hogwarts. Levina could not wait to leave, but couldn't see how to do so politely. Finally the train emerged from yet another long misty stretch into a red sunset, and Slughorn looked around, blinking in the twilight.

"Good gracious, it's getting dark already! I didn't notice that they'd lit the lamps! You'd better go and change into your robes, all of you. McLaggen, you must drop by and borrow that book on Nogtails. Harry, Blaise... any time you're passing. Same goes for you, miss," he twinkled at Ginny. "Well, off you go, off you go!"

As he pushed past Harry into the darkening corridor, McLaggen's eyes locked onto Levina, trailing her all the way out of the compartment. Eager to get away, she, Ginny, and Neville followed Zabini back along the train.

"I'm glad that's over," muttered Neville. "Strange man, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is a bit," said Harry, his eyes on Zabini. "How come you ended up in there, Ginny?"

"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith," said Ginny. "You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him—when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to get detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?"

"Better reason for inviting someone than because their mother's famous," said Harry, scowling at the back of Zabini's head, "or because their uncle... " Then he broke off for a moment, looking distracted. Levina shot him a bemused look.

"What, Harry?"

"I'll see you two later," said Harry under his breath, pulling out his Invisibility Cloak and flinging it over himself. "Come here, Levina."

"But what're you—?" asked Neville.

"Later!" whispered Harry, darting after Zabini as quietly as possible, though the rattling of the train made such caution almost pointless. He dragged Levina by the hand with him, causing her to stagger s she kept up with his pace.

"What are we doing?" she hissed at him, irritated as she pulled her arm from his grip.

"I have a plan," whispered Harry. "And I had a thought: You can change colors at will, right?"

"Yeah…?" said Levina, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well, can you turn yourself transparent, and therefore invisible?" he asked, and Levina stared at him.

"Er…I never thought about it," said Levina. "I could try it, thought." Concentrating hard on what she wanted and closing her eyes, Levina thought hard. When she re-opened them, she looked down at one hand, which was gone. "It worked!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah, great," said Harry distractedly. "Look, I'm going to Malfoy's compartment to spy on him; will you come with me?"

"I—well—" said Levina, not too keen on the idea.

"Great," said Harry. "Then let's go."

The corridors were almost completely empty now. Nearly everyone had returned to their carriages to change into their school robes and pack up their possessions. Though they were as close as they could get to Zabini without touching him, Harry was not quick enough to slip into the compartment when Zabini opened the door. Zabini was already sliding it shut when Harry hastily stuck out his foot to prevent it closing.

"What's wrong with this thing?" said Zabini angrily as he smashed the sliding door repeatedly into Harry's foot.

Harry seized the door and pushed it open, hard; Zabini, still clinging on to the handle, toppled over sideways into Gregory Goyle's lap, and in the ensuing ruckus, Harry darted into the compartment, leapt onto Zabini's temporarily empty seat, and hoisted himself up into the luggage rack. Levina then slid into the room, quietly as possible, and crouched on the floor at Pansy's and Draco's feet, breathing steadily. Goyle slammed the door shut and flung Zabini off him; Zabini collapsed into his own seat looking ruffled, Vincent Crabbe returned to his comic, and Draco, sniggering, lay back down across two seats with his head in Pansy Parkinson's lap. Levina sat curled uncomfortably on the ground before the two and watched, with disgust, as Pansy stroked the sleek blond hair off Draco's forehead, smirking as she did so, as though anyone would have loved to have been in her place. The lanterns swinging from the carriage ceiling cast a bright light over the scene: Harry could read every word of Crabbe's comic directly below him. Beside Draco, looking incredibly out of place and awkward, was none other than Eternity Russell, a Slytherin girl Levina had met the year before. She had violent red hair like Levina, only more red like a cherry than orange, and her eyes were the color of the ocean. She was reading some sort of book about Dementors, quietly avoiding eye contact with the others.

"So, Zabini," said Draco, "what did Slughorn want?"

"Just trying to make up to well-connected people," said Zabini, who was still glowering at Goyle. "Not that he managed to find many."

This information did not seem to please Draco.

"Who else had he invited?" he demanded.

"McLaggen from Gryffindor," said Zabini.

"Oh yeah, his uncle's big in the Ministry," said Malfoy.

"—someone else called Belby, from Ravenclaw—"

"Not him, he's a prat!" said Pansy.

"—and Longbottom, Snowpetal, Potter, and that Weasley girl," finished Zabini.

Eternity looked up from her book curiously at the names "Potter" and "Snowpetal," and Draco sat up very suddenly, knocking Pansy's hand aside.

"He invited Longbottom?"

"Well, I assume so, as Longbottom was there," said Zabini indifferently.

"What's Longbottom got to interest Slughorn?"

Zabini shrugged.

"Potter, precious Potter, obviously he wanted a look at the Chosen One," sneered Malfoy, "and of course Snowpetal would be there, but that Weasley girl! What's so special about her?"

"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you, Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!"

"I wouldn't touch a filthy little blood traitor like her whatever she looked like," said Zabini coldly.

"What about the Snowpetal girl?" said Pansy, her eyes still on Zabini.

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Zabini, smirking, "That McLaggen guy couldn't keep his eyes off of her."

Draco suddenly turned abruptly on him, his grey eyes narrowed. _"McLaggen? _What, he fancies Snowpetal?"

"I'd assume so," said Zabini, shrugging, "considering how he kept ogling at her. Oh," he added, looking in Draco's direction, "and Slughorn also asked her about some 'condition' she has."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "What condition?"

"He didn't say; Snowpetal just mentioned her similarities in appearance with her mother."

Draco sank back across her lap and allowed her to resume the stroking of his hair, looking very disappointed.

"Well, I pity Slughorn's taste. Maybe he's going a bit senile. Shame, my father always said he was a good wizard in his day. My father used to be a bit of a favorite of his. Slughorn probably hasn't heard I'm on the train, or—"

"I wouldn't bank on an invitation," said Zabini. "He asked me about Nott's father when I first arrived. They used to be old friends, apparently, but when he heard he'd been caught at the Ministry he didn't look happy, and Nott didn't get an invitation, did he? I don't think Slughorn's interested in Death Eaters."

Draco looked angry, but forced out a singularly humorless laugh.

"Well, who cares what he's interested in? What is he, when you come down to it? Just some stupid teacher." Draco yawned ostentatiously. "I mean, I might not even be at Hogwarts next year, what's it matter to me if some fat old has-been likes me or not?"

"What do you mean, you might not be at Hogwarts next year?" said Pansy indignantly, ceasing grooming Draco at once.

"Well, you never know," said Malfoy with the ghost of a smirk. "I might have—er—moved on to bigger and better things."

Crouched near Draco's and Pansy's knees, Levina's heart skipped a beat. Crabbe and Goyle were gawping at Malfoy; apparently they had had no inkling of any plans to move on to bigger and better things. Even Zabini had allowed a look of curiosity to mar his haughty features. Pansy resumed the slow stroking of Draco's hair, looking dumbfounded, and Levina scooted closer to the pair, interested. She hoped Harry was hearing all of this clearly as well.

"What do you mean?" said Eternity, who had emerged from behind her book to look at the others with her wide blue eyes.

"Do you mean—Him?"

Draco shrugged.

"Mother wants me to complete my education, but personally, I don't see it as that important these days. I mean, think about it... When the Dark Lord takes over, is he going to care how many O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s anyone's got? Of course he isn't... it'll be all about the kind of service he received, the level of devotion he was shown."

"And you think you'll be able to do something for him?" asked Zabini scathingly. "Sixteen years old and not even fully qualified yet?"

"I've just said, haven't I? Maybe he doesn't care if I'm qualified. Maybe the job he wants me to do isn't something that you need to be qualified for," said Draco quietly.

Crabbe and Goyle were both sitting with their mouths open like gargoyles. Pansy was gazing down at Draco as though she had never seen anything so awe-inspiring.

"I can see Hogwarts," said Draco, clearly relishing the effect he had created as he pointed out of the blackened window. "We'd better get our robes on."

Levina sighed as the group of Slytherins pulled their robes on; she wouldn't be able to change into hers in time for Hogwarts, and would surely get in trouble if caught. Near her right knee, Draco locked his trunk, and as the train slowed to a jerky crawl, fastened a thick new traveling cloak round his neck. Eternity pulled on her own robes, closed her trunk shut, and looked around at the other Slytherins uncertainly. Levina hoped that Hermione and Ron would take her things out onto the platform for her; she was stuck where she was until the compartment had quite emptied. At last, with a final lurch, the train came to a complete halt. Goyle threw the door open and muscled his way out into a crowd of second years, punching them aside; Crabbe and Zabini followed, as well as Eternity. Levina slipped from the cabin as well, wondering if Harry had gone already. She hadn't seen any sign of him leave, so she figured he must still be waiting for a good opportunity to leave. It didn't matter; she would wait in the corridor for him to join her before getting of the train. Almost a second after climbing out of the compartment, Eternity turned in a very startled way to face her, alarmed.

"Levina?"

Levina looked down at her hands, which she could now see again. The charm must have worn off, not a moment too soon. _Another second in there and I would have been toast, _she thought. "Uh…hey."

"Did…did you just come out of our compartment?" she asked, bemused.

Oops. So she had seen Levina. At least the other Slytherins, it seemed, had not spotted her, but she wasn't positive that Eternity wouldn't turn around and tell the others about the Gryffindor spying on them. "Um…no. Are you mad? Why would I be in there?"

"But…" Eternity blinked, perplexed. "But I just saw you! You just vaporized in thin air! Did you Apparate? You can't have…You're a sixth year, aren't you?"

"Look," said Levina, leading the way down the aisle, "I was in there, yes. But if you say _anything _to the other Slytherins—"

"They wouldn't listen to me even if I did," said Eternity coolly. "If you haven't noticed, they don't like me very much. And so," she added, stepping in front of Levina, "ugh! Get out of my way, SnowWeed! Can't you move any faster?"

Levina stared at her for a moment, bewildered. "Excuse me?" she said icily, taking a step forward. "Are you pulling my leg or something? Because I will—"

"No, no, shh!" said Eternity, looking over her shoulder as the group of Slytherins that had passed them climbed off the train. "Sorry. I have to do that to make it look like I don't like you…I can't be seen talking to a Gryffindor. They would eat me alive…more than usual, that is," she added with a cringe.

"Oh," said Levina, lowering the fist she'd made. "So then…you won't tell them I was in there?"

"No point," said Eternity, shrugging. "But if I may ask…why were you in there?"

"None of your business," said Levina.

Eternity's lips turned upwards in a smile. "You were spying on the Malfoy boy, weren't you?"

"What? No!" said Levina hastily. "We were just—"

"We," Eternity repeated. "'We'? There were more of you? Ah, well, I can't blame you. I've been trying to figure out what Draco's up too also. He's been acting weird."

Levina could just about feel her panic levels lessening. She found it odd that this girl was a Slytherin…She shared none of the characteristics of your typical Slytherin and seemed to have no desire to harm Levina. But she wasn't going to drop her guard yet…She knew that, if she turned her back for one second, the girl might double-cross her.

"Anyway," said Eternity, continuing down the corridor, "I suppose I'll be seeing you, then, if you're waiting around for the second…or, perhaps, third person in your 'we'." And with that, she vanished down the hallway.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, guys! As a Christmas present, I'm posting <em>two <em>chapters one after the other! So, the next one should be up now. (Although they're fairly short)**

**TheVampireDiariesPwincess: You'll just have to see ;) And thanks!**

**Flower getting' lady: Haha! Thanks so much! :D I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter; and yeah, we'll just have to wait and see about Fred the Pygmy and Lilypad. (:**

**Things to come: Unexpected DADA Professor, the Feast, and more!**

**Review! **


	4. Return to Hogwarts

**Hi, guys! This chapter will be _a lot_ shorter than my usual, but I've posted two chapters to make up for it! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Levina. Just kidding! I do! But I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

><p>Levina stood there, leaning against one of the windows, for some time. The corridor quickly emptied, and before long, she was the only one there. Where was he? Harry would have taken off the cloak, or he would have tapped her on the shoulder or something to make his presence clear. Something was wrong.<p>

Just as Levina was beginning to worry, a figure appeared in the corridor. But, instead of Harry, it was none other than Draco Malfoy. _Oh no, _she thought; Draco was smirking in a very certain way he generally reserved for Gryffindors, like Harry. _He must have discovered Harry!_

Draco took one look at her, then, to her surprise, laughed. "I keep mistaking you for a Weasley."

"Where's Harry?" Levina demanded, and Draco stopped laughing.

"What do you mean?" he asked, still smirking. "Weren't you in a compartment with him? Or was he…sticking his nose where it doesn't belong?"

"I don't have time for games, damn it!" Levina snarled, shoving Draco roughly against the corridor wall, taking him by surprise. "Now where is he? You tell me right now!"

Clearly frightened by something, whether it was her sheer anger or something else, Draco flushed red across the bridge of his nose and said quickly, "He's in the compartment down that way." He pointed towards the cabin she'd been in previously. "Just…don't think bad of me."

"'_Don't think bad of you'?" _Levina scoffed. "You're a Slytherin! And…what have you done to him?"

Draco's grey eyes studied her for a moment, scanning her face silently, which only mad her more frustrated. She thrust him away from herself and ran down the corridor, where she threw open the compartment door. To her surprise, there were two people in the room: Harry Potter, who was splattered with blood on his nose, and none other than Tonks.

"Wotcher, Levina," said Tonks, glancing over at her.

"Harry!" said Levina, horrified at the sight of the blood on his face, and his nose, which was tilted at a weird angle. "Your nose—"

"Never mind that, we'd better get out of here, quickly," she said, as the train windows became obscured with steam and they began to move out of the station. "Come on, we'll jump."

Levina hurried after her into the corridor. She pulled open the train door and leapt onto the platform, which seemed to be sliding underneath them as the train gathered momentum. They followed her, staggered a little on landing, then straightened up in time to see the gleaming scarlet steam engine pick up speed, round the corner, and disappear from view.

Finally, once of the train, Levina approached Harry, panting, and examined his face.

"Who did it?" said Tonks.

"Draco Malfoy," said Harry and Levina bitterly in sync. "Thanks for...well..."

"No problem," said Tonks, without smiling. "I can fix your nose if you stand still."

"That prat," said Levina, shaking her head. "I'm sorry I didn't stay behind, Harry, I thought you were going to leave right away."

"Episkey," said Tonks.

Harry raised a hand gingerly and touched his nose, feeling it; it looked much more normal.

"Thanks a lot!"

"You'd better put that cloak back on, and we can walk up to the school," said Tonks, still unsmiling. As Harry swung the cloak back over himself, she waved her wand; an immense silvery four-legged creature erupted from it and streaked off into the darkness.

"Was that a Patronus?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I'm sending word to the castle that I've got you or they'll worry. Come on, we'd better not dawdle."

"You can do that with a Patrnous?" said Levina interestedly, and Tonks nodded.

They set off toward the lane that led to the school.

"How did you find me?"

"I noticed you hadn't left the train and I knew you had that cloak. I thought you might be hiding for some reason. When I saw the blinds were drawn down on that compartment I thought I'd check."

"And I confronted Draco in the corridor," said Levina.

"But what are you doing here, anyway, Tonks?" Harry asked.

"I'm stationed in Hogsmeade now, to give the school extra protection," said Tonks.

"Is it just you who's stationed up here, or—?"

"No, Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish are here too."

"Dawlish, that Auror Dumbledore attacked last year?"

"That's right."

They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks. Levina looked sideways at Tonks, frowning at her appearance. Last year she had been inquisitive (to the point of being a little annoying at times), she had laughed easily, she had made jokes. Now she seemed older and much more serious and purposeful. Was this all the effect of what had happened at the Ministry?

When they finally reached the gates, they were chained shut. Levina groaned; she was both cold and starving, and she longed to go to the feast as soon as possible.

"Alohomora!" said Harry confidently, pointing his wand at the padlock, but nothing happened.

"That won't work on these," said Tonks. "Dumbledore bewitched them himself."

"I could climb a wall," he suggested.

"No, you couldn't," said Tonks flatly. "Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security's been tightened a hundredfold this summer."

"And we can't Apparate," said Levina, sighing.

"Well then," said Harry, starting to feel annoyed at her lack of helpfulness, "I suppose We'll just have to sleep out here and wait for morning."

"Someone's coming down for you two," said Tonks, "Look."

A lantern was bobbing at the distant foot of the castle. Levina was so relieved to see it she felt she could even endure Filch's wheezy criticisms of his tardiness and rants about how his timekeeping would improve with the regular application of thumbscrews. It was not until the glowing yellow light was ten feet away from them, that she recognized, with a rush of pure loathing, the uplit hooked nose and long, black, greasy hair of Severus Snape. _Oh. No._

"Well, well, well," sneered Snape, taking out his wand and tapping the padlock once, so that the chains snaked backward and the gates creaked open. "Nice of you to turn up, Potter, Miss Snowpetal, although you have evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance."

"I couldn't change, I didn't have my –" Harry began, but Snape cut across him.

"There is no need to wait, Nymphadora, Potter and Miss Snowpetal are quite—ah—safe in my hands."

_Define "safe", _thought Levina, glaring up at him suspiciously.

"I meant Hagrid to get the message," said Tonks, frowning.

"Hagrid was late for the start-of-term feast, just like these two here, so I took it instead. And incidentally," said Snape, standing back to allow Harry and Levina to pass him, "I was interested to see your new Patronus."

He shut the gates in her face with a loud clang and tapped the chains with his wand again, so that they slithered, clinking, back into place.

"I think you were better off with the old one," said Snape, the malice in his voice unmistakable. "The new one looks weak."

As Snape swung the lantern about, Levina saw, fleetingly, a look of shock and anger on Tonks's face. Then she was covered in darkness once more.

"Goodnight," Harry called to her over his shoulder, as he began the walk up to the school with Snape. "Thanks for... everything,"

"'Night, Tonks!" called Levina.

"See you, Harry, Levina."

Snape did not speak for a minute or so, and Levina was glad for it; all she could think of were brimming thoughts of hatred towards Snape and, she had a feeling, if he pushed her too far, she might be more vulnerable to her Werewolf side, considering how much it was affecting her lately.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for lateness, I think," said Snape. "And, let me see, another twenty for your Muggle attire. You know, I don't believe any House has ever been in negative figures this early in the term—we haven't even started pudding. You might have set a record, Snowpetal, Potter."

Levina bit her lip so hard that she could feel the smallest bit of blood emerge from it, which hurt intensely. Not the best idea.

"Red hair now?" Snape commented, and Levina winced. "Personally, I think the brown was better," he said, sneering. "Now you look like a red flag signaling everyone to your condition."

_I hate you, _thought Levina bitterly in her mind, holding back every cuss word and obscenity she wanted to scream at him, and feeling as though she might burst from anger. _Why don't you go—_

"I suppose you wanted to make an entrance, did you?" Snape continued. "And with no flying car available you decided that bursting into the Great Hall halfway through the feast ought to create a dramatic effect."

_Maybe I should just let myself turn into a Werewolf, _thought Levina, baring her teeth, which felt, to her surprise, much sharper than before. _Then I could rip his head off._

They reached the castle steps at last and as the great oaken front doors swung open into the vast flagged entrance hall, a burst of talk and laughter and of tinkling plates and glasses greeted them through the doors standing open into the Great Hall.

"No cloak," said Snape, once they were inside. "You can walk in so that everyone sees you, which is what you wanted, I'm sure."

"Ah, well, that's fine," said Levina politely. "I don't have a cloak anyway." And, thinking hard yet again, she suddenly vanished into thin air, turning a transparent color. Smirking at the look on Snape's face, she made her way down the hall, glad that no one could see her.

The Great Hall with its four long House tables and its staff table set at the top of the room was decorated as usual with floating candles that made the plates below glitter and glow. She ran over to Hermione and Ron, with Harry on her heels.

"Where've you—blimey, what've you done to your face?" said Ron, goggling at him along with everyone else in the vicinity.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" said Harry, grabbing a spoon and squinting at his distorted reflection.

"You're covered in blood!" said Hermione. "Come here—"

She raised her wand, said "Tergeo!" and siphoned off the dried blood.

"Thanks," said Harry, feeling his now clean face. "How's my nose looking?"

"Normal," said Hermoine anxiously. "Why shouldn't it? Harry, what happened? We've been terrified!"

"I'll tell you later," said Harry curtly. He was very conscious that Ginny, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were listening in; even Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had come floating along the bench to eavesdrop.

"But—" said Hermione.

"Not now, Hermione," said Harry, in a darkly significant voice.

"Don't push him, Hermione," said Levina in her ear, and Hermione let out a very small squeal of surprise before wheeling around in her seat, confused.

Levina returned to her usual colors, beaming. "New ability, thanks to Harry," she said, grinning.

Hermione frowned disapprovingly. "You know I don't like it when you use those abilities, Levina. They're the very ones Voldemort was trying to get!"

"Ah, psh," said Levina, reaching for some pudding. "What's it matter? Pass the treacle tarts."

"You missed the Sorting, anyway," said Hermione, as Ron dived for a large chocolate gateau.

"Hat say anything interesting?" asked Harry, taking a piece of treacle tart.

"More of the same, really... advising us all to unite in the face enemies, you know."

"Dumbledore mentioned Voldemort at all?"

"Not yet, but he always saves his proper speech for after the the feast doesn't he? It can't be long now."

"Snape said Hagrid was late for the feast—"

"You've seen Snape? How come?" said Ron between frenzied mouthfuls of gateau.

"Bumped into him," said Harry evasively.

Levina snorted. "More like _he _went straight for _us._"

"Hagrid was only a few minutes late," said Hermione. "Look, he's waving at you, Harry."

After waving back to Hagrid, looking slightly distracted, Harry turned to Levina, who was nibbling on a treacle tart. "So, who was that redhead in the compartment with us?" he asked.

"Besides me?" said Levina.

Harry rolled his eyes. "The one sitting next to Malfoy."

"Eternity?" said Levina, still chewing. "Oh, she's…well, kind of my friend. I think."

"Isn't she a Slytherin?" said Hermione, eyebrows raised.

"Have you seen her before?" said Levina curiously.

"Once in the library, with all the other Slytherins," said Hermione coldly. "She was teasing me right along with all of them!"

"Well, I'm not sure how truthful she is, but she told me she does that when she's around the other Slytherins, so that they don't bully her more," said Levina.

"Oh," said Hermione, frowning. "Well…I'd still be on my guard around her. So what did Professor Slughorn want?" she added.

"To know what really happened at the Ministry." said Harry.

"Naturally," said Levina.

"Him and everyone else here," sniffed Hermione. "People were interrogating us about it on the train, weren't they, Ron?"

"Yeah," said Ron. "All wanting to know if you really are 'the Chosen One'—"

"There has been much talk on that very subject even amongst the ghosts," interrupted Nearly Headless Nick, inclining his barely connected head toward Harry so that it wobbled dangerously on its ruff. "I am considered something of a Potter authority; it is widely known that we are friendly. I have assured the spirit community that I will not pester you for information, however. 'Harry Potter knows that he can confide in me with complete confidence,' I told them. 'I would rather die than betray his trust.'"

"That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Ron observed, and Levina snorted.

"Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," said Nearly Headless Nick in affronted tones, and he rose into the air and glided back toward the far end of the Gryffindor table just as Dumbledore got to his feet at the staff table. The talk and laughter echoing around the Hall died away almost instantly.

"The very best of evenings to you!" he said, smiling broadly, his arms opened wide as though to embrace the whole room.

"What happened to his hand?" gasped Hermione.

She was not the only one who had noticed. Dumbledore's right hand was as blackened and dead-looking as it had been on the night he had come to fetch Levina from the Lévesques. Whispers swept the room; Dumbledore, interpreting them correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple-and-gold sleeve over his injury.

"Nothing to worry about," he said airily. "Now... to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you... "

"His hand was like that when I saw him over the summer," Harry whispered to the others."I thought he'd have cured it by now, though...or Madam Pomfrey would've done."

"I asked him about it," said Levina. "He wouldn't tell me what happened to it."

"It looks as if it's died," said Hermione, with a nauseated expression. "But there are some injuries you can't cure... old curses... and there are poisons without antidotes..."

"...and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

At this, Levina grinned; she, of course, had a dozen Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products in her bag.

"Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn." Slughorn stood up, his bald head gleaming in the candlelight, his big waist coated belly casting the table into shadow, "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?"

_"Potions?"_

The word echoed all over the Hall as people wondered whether they had heard right.

"Potions?" said Ron, Levina, and Hermione together, turning to stare Harry. "But you said—"

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," said Dumbledore, raising voice so that it carried over all the muttering, "will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"WHAT!" shrieked Levina, knocking over her goblet of pumpkin juice, horrified with shock. _Snape _teaching _Defense Against the Dark Arts? _It had to be a joke.

"No!" said Harry, so loudly that many heads turned in his direction; he was staring up at the staff table, incensed.

"But—but—" Levina spluttered.

"But Harry, you said that Slughorn was going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts!" said Hermione.

"I thought he was!" said Harry.

Snape, who was sitting on Dumbledore's right, did not stand up at the mention of his name; he merely raised a hand in lazy acknowledgment of the applause from the Slytherin table, yet Levina was sure she could detect a look of triumph on the features she loathed so much.

"Well, there's one good thing," said Harry savagely. "Snape'll be gone by the end of the year."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"That job's jinxed. No ones lasted more than a year...Quirrell actually died doing it...Personally, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for another death... "

"Harry!" said Hermione, shocked and reproachful.

"Thank goodness," said Levina, relieved. "Or maybe he'll be carried away by centaurs, like Umbridge," she suggested eagerly.

"He might just go back to teaching Potions at the end of the year," said Ron reasonably. "That Slughorn bloke might not want to stay long-term. Moody didn't."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione were not the only ones who had been talking; the whole Hall had erupted in a buzz of conversation at the news that Snape had finally achieved his heart's desire. Seemingly oblivious to the sensational nature of the news he had just imparted, Dumbledore said nothing more about staff appointments, but waited a few seconds to ensure that the silence was absolute before continuing.

"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength."

The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Dumbledore spoke. Levina glanced at Draco, who was not looking at Dumbledore, but making his fork hover in midair with his wand, as though he found the Headmaster's words unworthy of his attention. _Odd, _thought Levina.

"I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that you teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them-in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety."

Dumbledore's blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall toward their dormitories. Harry lagged behind, very obviously pretending to retie the lace on his trainer, allowing most of Gryffindors to draw ahead of him. Hermione had darted ahead to fulfill her prefect's duty of shepherding the first years, but Ron and Levina remained with Harry.

"What really happened to your nose?" he asked, once they were at the very back of the throng pressing out of the Hall, and out of earshot of anyone else.

Harry told him. It was a mark of the strength of their friendship that Ron did not laugh.

"I saw Malfoy miming something to do with a nose," he said darkly.

"I confronted him in the corridor," said Levina, glowering after him. "He—"

"Yeah, well, never mind that," said Harry, sounding bitter. "Listen to what he was saying before he found out I was there... "

Once he was done explaining everything, however, Ron looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"Come on, Harry, he was just showing off for Parkinson...What kind of mission would You-Know-Who have given him?"

"How d'you know Voldemort doesn't need someone at Hogwarts? It wouldn't be the first—"

"I wish yeh'd stop sayin' tha name, Harry," said a reproachful voice behind them. Levina looked over her shoulder to see Hagtid shaking his head.  
>"Hagrid!" said Levina happily.<p>

"Dumbledore uses that name," said Harry stubbornly.

"Yeah, well, tha's Dumbledore, innit?" said Hagrid mysteriously. "So how come yeh two were late, Harry, Levina? I was worried."

"We got held up on the train," said Harry. "Why were you late?"

"I was with Grawp," said Hagrid happily. "Los' track o' the time. He's got a new home up in the mountains now, Dumbledore fixed it-nice big cave. He's much happier than he was in the forest. We were havin' a good chat."

"Really?" said Harry, in an obviously skeptical tone.

"Oh yeah, he's really come on," said Hagrid proudly. "Yeh'll be amazed. I'm thinkin' o' trainin' him up as me assistant."

Ron snorted loudly, but managed to pass it off as a violent sneeze. They were now standing beside the oak front doors.

"That's…great," said Levina, whose eyes were just about watering, as she tried to keep herself from laughing.

"Anyway, I'll see yeh tomorrow, firs' lesson's straight after lunch. Come early an' yeh can say hello ter Buck—I mean, Witherwings!"

Raising an arm in cheery farewell, he headed out of the doors into the darkness.

Harry, Levina, and Ron looked at each other. Levina could tell they were thinking the same thing she was:

"You're not taking Care of Magical Creatures, are you?"

Ron shook his head. "And you're not either, are you?"

Harry shook his head too.

"And you?" said Harry to Levina.

"No," said Levina.

"And Hermione," said Ron, "she's not, is she?"

Harry shook his head again, and Levina's eyes went to the floor. She had a feeling it wouldn't go over to well with Hagrid that his four favorite students were no longer taking his class…

* * *

><p><strong>'Ello! I hope these two chapters hold you guys for a little while until I can get the next one up. I'm taking a small break, but I'll post the next chapter ASAP! <strong>

**Things to come: Potions, the Half Blood Prince, and more!**

**Review (: **


	5. The sweet smell of Love Potions

**Greetings, Earthlings.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but Levina, Eternity, Eric, and Destiny. Well…and a few other people. But still.**

* * *

><p>Harry, Levina, and Ron met Hermione in the common room before breakfast next morning. Apparently hoping for some support in his theory, Harry lost no time in telling Hermione what they had overheard Draco saying on the Hogwarts Express.<p>

"But he was obviously showing off for Parkinson, wasn't he?" interjected Ron quickly, before Hermione could say anything.

"No, he seemed sincere," said Levina.

"Well," she said uncertainly, "I don't know. It would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is…but that's a big lie to tell..."

"Exactly," said Harry.

"It's rude to point," Ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year boy as they joined the queue to climb out of the portrait hole. The boy, who had been muttering something about Harry behind his hand to his friend, promptly turned scarlet and toppled out of the hole in alarm. Ron sniggered. "I love being a sixth year. And we're going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods when we can just sit up here and relax."

"We're going to need that time for studying, Ron!" said Hermione, as they set off down the corridor.

"Oh, learn to relax a little, Hermione," said Levina. "Last year was 'The Year of The Stressed-Out Levina.' But not anymore!"

"Hold it!" said Hermione, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disk clutched tightly in his hand. "Fanged Frisbees banned, hand it over," she told him sternly. The scowling boy handed over the snarling Frisbee, ducked under her arm, and took off after his friends. Ron waited for him to vanish, then tugged the Frisbee from Hermione's grip.

"Excellent, I've always wanted one of these."

Hermione's remonstration was drowned by a loud giggle; Lavender Brown had apparently found Ron's remark highly amusing. She continued to laugh as she passed them, glancing back at Ron over her shoulder. Ron looked rather pleased with himself.

_Odd, _thought Levina, shooting Lavender a suspicious look. Had she _ever _made any acknowledgment towards Ron being there in the past five years?

The ceiling of the Great Hall was serenely blue and streaked with frail, wispy clouds, just like the squares of sky visible through the high mullioned windows. While they tucked into porridge and eggs and bacon, Harry, Levina, and Ron told Hermione about their embarrassing conversation with Hagrid the previous evening.

"But he can't really think we'd continue Care of Magical Creatures!" she said, looking distressed. "I mean, when has any of us expressed...you know...any enthusiasm?"

"That's it, though, innit?" said Ron, swallowing an entire fried egg whole. "We were the ones who made the most effort in classes because we like Hagrid. But he thinks we liked the stupid subject. D'ya reckon anyone's going to go on to N.E.W.T.?"

None of them answered; there was no need. They knew perfectly well that nobody in their year would want to continue Care of Magical Creatures.

"He can't possibly think we actually enjoyed the class," said Levina uncertainly. "I mean, half the time I was in there I was either being bitten or stung by something!"

They avoided Hagrid's eye and returned his cheery wave only half-heartedly when he left the staff table ten minutes later.

After they had eaten, they remained in their places, awaiting Professor McGonagall's descent from the staff table. The distribution of class schedules was more complicated than usual this year, for Professor McGonagall needed first to confirm that everybody had achieved the necessary O.W.L. grades to continue with their chosen N.E.W.T.s.

Hermione was immediately cleared to continue with Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Potions, and shot off to a first period Ancient Runes class without further ado. Levina approached Professor McGonagall directly after Harry stepped away from his discussion with her.

"So, Snowpetal, Snowpetal..." said Professor McGonagall, consulting her notes as she turned to Levina. "Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology, Transfiguration...all fine. I must say, I was quite pleased to see those two Outstandings on your report…But, why haven't you applied to continue with Potions? I thought it was your ambition to become an Auror?"

The right side of Levina's lip twitched; she did in fact want to become one, but after the warning from Umbridge the previous year that a "filthy half breed" would never work in the Ministry, she'd become more hesitant. "Yeah, but you said I had to get an 'Outstanding' in my O.W.L," she said with a shrug.

"And so you did when Professor Snape was teaching the subject. Professor Slughorn, however, is perfectly happy to accept N.E.W.T. students with 'Exceeds Expectations' at O.W.L. Do you wish to proceed with Potions?"

"Sure!" said Levina, excited; she had a feeling she would enjoy Potions much more, now that Snape was out of the picture. "But...I didn't buy the books or any ingredients—"

"I'm sure Professor Slughorn will be able to lend you some," said Professor McGonagall. "Very well then, Miss Snowpetal, here is your schedule."

A few minutes later, Ron and Harry were cleared to do the same subjects as Levina, and the three of them left the table together.

"Just like old times," said Levina, smiling as she scanned her schedule.

"Look," said Ron delightedly, gazing at his schedule, "we've got a free period now and a free period after break...and after lunch...excellent."

They returned to the common room, which was empty apart from a half dozen seventh years, including Katie Bell, the only remaining member of the original Gryffindor Quidditch team that Harry had joined in his first year; Levina hadn't joined until her second year.

"I thought you'd get that, well done," she called over, pointing at the Captains badge on Harry's chest. "Tell me when you call trials!"

"Don't be stupid," said Harry, "you don't need to try out, I watched you play for five years..."

"You mustn't start off like that," she said warningly. "For all you know, there's someone much better than me out there. Good teams have been ruined before now because Captains just kept playing the old faces, or letting in their friends..."

Ron looked a little uncomfortable and began playing with the Fanged Frisbee Hermione had taken from the fourth-year student. It zoomed around the common room, snarling and attempting to take bites of the tapestry. Crookshanks's yellow eyes followed it and he hissed when it came too close.

"Well, you'll have to let me know, too," said Levina halfheartedly to Harry, but she couldn't escape the sinking feeling of how different Quidditch would be without Fred and George. If she got onto the team again, who would be the other two Beaters?"

"You don't need to try out; you and the twins were the best Beaters I'd ever seen—" said Harry.

"Aw, Harry, you're making me blush," said Levina, beaming. "But that was when Fred and George were here. Who knows how I'll play without them?"

An hour later they reluctantly left the sunlit common room for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom four floors below. Hermione was already queuing outside, carrying an armful of heavy books and looking put-upon.

"We got so much homework for Runes," she said anxiously when Harry and Ron joined her. "A fifteen-inch essay, two translations, and I've got to read these by Wednesday!"

"Shame," yawned Ron.

"You wait," she said resentfully. "I bet Snape gives us loads."

"Not just loads," said Levina. "Snape's finally gotten the job he always wanted. We'll have enough homework to hold us for months!"

The classroom door opened as she spoke, and Snape stepped into the corridor, his sallow face framed as ever by two curtains of greasy black hair. Silence fell over the queue immediately.

"Inside," he said.

Levina glanced around uneasily as they entered. Snape had imposed his personality upon the room already; it was gloomier than usual, as curtains had been drawn over the windows, and was lit by candlelight. New pictures adorned the walls, many of them showing people who appeared to be in pain, sporting grisly injuries or strangely contorted body parts. Nobody spoke as they settled down, looking around at the shadowy, gruesome pictures.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," said Snape, closing the door and moving to face the class from behind his desk; Hermione hastily dropped her copy of Confronting the Faceless back into her bag and stowed it under her chair. "I wish to speak to you, and I want your fullest attention."

His black eyes roved over their upturned faces, lingering for a fraction of a second longer on Levina's than anyone else's. She stared right back, determined; she wouldn't be a pushover this year.

"You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe."

_Psh, you don't 'believe,' you know damn well how many there were, _thought Levina bitterly. _I bet you were counting them every year…_

"Naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work, which will be more advanced."

Snape set off around the edge of the room, speaking now in a lower voice; the class craned their necks to keep him in view.

"The Dark Arts," said Snape, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

Levina stared at Snape; he sounded almost loving towards the dark subject. _Not surprising, _she thought.

"Your defenses," said Snape, a little louder, "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. These pictures," he indicated a few of them as he swept past, "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse" (he waved a hand toward a witch who was clearly shrieking in agony) "feel the Dementor's Kiss" (a wizard lying huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against a wall) "or provoke the aggression of the Inferius" (a bloody mass upon ground).

Levina winced at the picture of the Cruciatus Curse, as it brought back painful memories of her father Rick being tortured by it. She gave an involuntary shudder.

"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" said Parvati Patil in a high pitched voice. "Is it definite, is he using them?"

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past," said Snape, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now..."

He set off again around the other side of the classroom toward his desk, and again, they watched him as he walked, his dark robes billowing behind him.

"...you are, I believe, complete novices in the use of non-verbal spells. What is the advantage of a non-verbal spell?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air. Snape took his time looking around at everybody else, making sure he had no choice, before saying curtly, "Very well—Miss Granger?"

"Your adversary has no warning about what kind of magic you're about to perform," said Hermione, "which gives you a split-second advantage."

"An answer copied almost word for word from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six," said Snape dismissively (over in the corner, Draco sniggered), "but correct in essentials. Yes, those who progress in using magic without shouting incantations gain an element of surprise in their spell-casting. Not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power which some, "his gaze lingered maliciously upon Levina once more, "lack."

Levina knew Snape was thinking of their disastrous Occlumency lessons of the previous year. _If you had just let me take off my necklace, then I would have been able to control it better! _

"You will now divide," Snape went on, "into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."

Although Snape did not know it, Harry had taught at least half the class (everyone who had been a member of the D.A.) how to perform a Shield Charm the previous year. None of them had ever cast the charm without speaking, however. A reasonable amount of cheating ensued; many people were merely whispering the incantation instead of saying it aloud. Typically, ten minutes into the lesson Hermione managed to repel Neville's muttered Jelly-Legs Jinx without uttering a single word, a feat that would surely have earned her twenty points for Gryffindor from any reasonable teacher, thought Levina bitterly, but which Snape ignored. He swept between them as they practiced, looking just as much like an overgrown bat as ever.

Levina partnered up with Alex Ratcliff, smirking to herself. Unbeknownst to Snape, Levina was already fairly good at casting spells without her wand; this, apparently, was one of her 'special abilities'.

_Expelliarmus! _Thought Levina hard in her mind, and Alex's wand was knocked from her hand just as Snape passed by them. He'd clearly seen the exchange occur, but he merely continued walking, as though nothing had happened. Levina, however, beamed to herself.

At that moment something knocked the wind out of Levina, who stumbled backwards and bumped into Neville.

"Sorry," she apologized to him. "That was great, Alex!"

"Yours, too," said Alex, grinning.

_"Protego!"_

Levina looked up just in time to see Snape knocked off-balance by Harry and hit a desk. The whole class looked around, alarmed, and watched as Snape righted himself, scowling and shooting Harry a look of loathing.

Levina, who could barely control herself, having been knocked into various glass objects during their Occlumency lessons in her fifth year, began laughing.

"Do you remember me telling you we are practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?" said Snape coldly.

"Yes," said Harry stiffly.

"Yes, sir."

"There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor." Several people gasped, including Hermione. Behind Snape, however, Ron, Dean, and Seamus grinned appreciatively, and Levina had to put a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughing.

"Detention, Saturday night, my office," said Snape. "I do not take cheek from anyone, Potter...not even the Chosen One. As for you, Miss Snowpetal," he added, turning to Levina, who covered her mouth hastily, still grinning, "has Miss Ratcliff hit you with a rather strong Cheering Charm?"

"I'd say she has, sir," said Levina, shrugging innocently. "What other possible reason could I have for laughing?"

Snape's black eyes glowered at her. "You may join Mr. Potter in detention on Saturday night."

"That was brilliant, Harry!" chortled Ron, once they were safely on their way to break a short while later.

"You really shouldn't have said it," said Hermione, frowning at Ron. "What made you?"

"He tried to jinx me, in case you didn't notice!" fumed Harry. "I had enough of that during those Occlumency lessons! Why doesn't he use another guinea pig for a change? What's Dumbledore playing at, anyway, letting him teach Defense? Did you hear him talking about the Dark Arts? He loves them! All that unfixed, indestructible stuff-"

"Well," said Hermione, "I thought he sounded a bit like you."

"Like me?"

"Yes, when you were telling us what it's like to face Voldemort. You said it wasn't just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts—well, wasn't that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?"

Harry said nothing.

"And what happened to you?" said Ron, turning to Levina, who was still beaming to herself.

"Yeah," said Hermione, turning towards her with a stern look. "Were you _trying _to get yourself into trouble?"

"No," said Levina, shrugging. "But it was funny seeing _him_ get knocked down for a change, considering how many times I had to pick glass out of my arms after leaving Occlumency. As for detentions, I'm pretty much used to them, anyway, and I have a feeling Snape won't make me carve words into my own skin."

"But I wouldn't put it past him," said Harry darkly.

"Harry! Hey, Harry!"

Levina looked around; Jack Sloper, one of the Beaters on last year's Gryffindor Quidditch team, was hurrying toward him holding a roll of parchment.

"For you," panted Sloper. "Listen, I heard you're the new Captain. When're you holding trials?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Harry, but Levina, who remembered how badly Jack played the previous year compared to her and the twins, hoped he wouldn't be one of the Beaters.

"Oh, right. I was hoping it'd be this weekend—"

But Harry, who was staring down at the parchment, abandoned Sloper in mid-sentence and hurried away with Ron, Levina, and Hermione, unrolling the parchment as he went. Levina peered over his shoulder as he read it.

Dear Harry,  
>I would like to start our private lessons this Saturday. Kindly come along to my office at eight p.m. I hope you are enjoying your first day back at school.<p>

Yours sincerely,  
>Albus Dumbledore<br>P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops.

"He enjoys Acid Pops?" said Ron, who had read the message over Harry's shoulder and was looking perplexed.

"It's the password to get past the gargoyle outside his study," said Harry in a low voice. "Ha! Snape's not going to be pleased...I won't be able to do his detention!"

"Interesting password," said Levina. "Could you take me with you to the lesson so I won't have to do detention either?"

He, Ron, Levina, and Hermione spent the whole of break speculating on what Dumbledore would teach Harry. Ron thought it most likely to be spectacular jinxes and hexes of the type the Death Eaters would not know. Hermione said such things were illegal, and thought it much more likely that Dumbledore wanted to teach Harry advanced Defensive magic. After break, she went off to Arithmancy while Harry, Levina, and Ron returned to the common room where they grudgingly started Snape's homework. This turned out to be so complex that they still had not finished when Hermione joined them for their after-lunch free period (though she considerably sped up the process). They had only just finished when the bell rang for the afternoon's double Potions and they beat the familiar path down to the dungeon classroom that had, for so long, been Snape's.

When they arrived in the corridor they saw that there were only a dozen people progressing to N.E.W.T. level. Crabbe and Goyle had evidently failed to achieve the required O.W.L. grade, but five Slytherins had made it through, including Draco and Eternity. Four Ravenclaws were there, and one Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan, whom Levina liked despite his rather pompous manner.

"Harry," Ernie said portentously, holding out his hand as Harry approached, "didn't get a chance to speak in Defense Against The Dark Arts this morning. Good lesson, I thought, but Shield Charms are old hat, of course, for us old D.A. lags.. And how are you, Ron—Hermione? Levina?"

Before they could say more than "fine," the dungeon door opened and Slughorn's belly preceded him out of the door. As they filed into the room, his great walrus mustache curved above his beaming mouth, and he greeted Harry, Levina, and Zabini with particular enthusiasm.

The dungeon was, most unusually, already full of vapors and odd smells. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sniffed interestedly as they passed large, bubbling cauldrons. The five Slytherins took a table together, as did the four Ravenclaws. This left Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione to share a table with Ernie. They chose the one nearest a gold-colored cauldron that was emitting one of the most seductive scents Levina had ever inhaled: It was odd, but the first thing she thought of was Fred. Simultaneously, she smelled the particular scent of heat that she enjoyed so much: pineapple, cinnamon buns, fresh snow, the beach, rain, green apples, and various other things. She found that she was breathing very slowly and deeply, and a great contentment stole over her. She could practically feel the heat warm her skin as she inhaled.

"Now then, now then, now then," said Slughorn, whose massive outline was quivering through the many shimmering vapors. "Scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making..."

"Sir?" said Harry, raising his hand.

"Harry, m'boy?"

"I haven't got a book or scales or anything—nor's Ron and Levina—we didn't realize we'd be able to do the N.E.W.T., you see—"

"Ah, yes, Professor McGonagall did mention...not to worry, my dear boy, not to worry at all. You can use ingredients from the store cupboard today, and I'm sure we can lend you some scales, and we've got a small stock of old books here, they'll do until you can write to Flourish and Blotts..."

Slughorn strode over to a corner cupboard and, after a moment's foraging, emerged with three very battered-looking copies of Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage, which he gave to Harry, Levina, and Ron along with three sets of tarnished scales.

"Now then," said Slughorn, returning to the front of the class and inflating his already bulging chest so that the buttons on his waistcoat threatened to burst off, "I've prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kind of thing you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T.s. You ought to have heard of 'em, even if you haven't made 'em yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?"

He indicated the cauldron nearest the Slytherin table. Levina sat up taller and inclined her neck forward, so she could see what looked like plain water boiling away inside it.

Hermione's well-practiced hand hit the air before anybody else's; Slughorn pointed at her.

"It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth," said Hermione.

Levina wrinkled her nose at it; she was all too familiar with the potion after Umbridge attempted to force information out of her the previous year.

"Very good, very good!" said Slughorn happily. "Now," he continued, pointing at the cauldron nearest the Ravenclaw table, "this one here is pretty well known...Featured in a few Ministry leaflets lately too... Who can—?"

Hermione's hand was fastest once more.

"lt's Polyjuice Potion, sir," she said.

Levina too had recognized the slow-bubbling, mudlike substance the second cauldron, but did not resent Hermione getting the credit for answering the question; she, after all, was the one who had succeeded in making it, back in their second year.

"Excellent, excellent! Now, this one here...yes, my dear?" said Slughorn, now looking slightly bemused, as Hermione's hand punched the air again.

"It's Amortentia!"

"It is indeed. It seems almost foolish to ask," said Slughorn, who was looking mightily impressed, "but I assume you know what it does?"

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world!" said Hermione.

"Quite right! You recognized it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?"

"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals," said Hermione enthusiastically, "and it's supposed to smell differently to each of according to what attracts us, and I can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and—"

But she turned slightly pink and did not complete the sentence. Levina smirked; for some reason, she was not surprised by Hermione's choices of scents.

"May I ask your name, my dear?" said Slughorn, ignoring Hermione's embarrassment.

"Hermione Granger, sir."

"Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

"No. I don't think so, sir. I'm Muggle-born, you see."

Harry saw Draco lean close to Nott and whisper something; both of them sniggered, but Slughorn showed no dismay; on the contrary, he beamed and looked from Hermione to Harry, who was sitting next to her.

"Oho! 'One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she's the best in our year!' I'm assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry.

"Well, well, take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger," said Slughorn genially.

Draco looked rather as he had done the time Hermione had punched him in the face. Levina felt a smile creep across her lips, and when he caught her eye, she stuck her tongue out at him. Hermione seemed very pleased, and she whispered something to Harry, beaming brightly.

"Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room—oh yes," he said, nodding gravely at Malfoy and Nott, both of whom were smirking skeptically. "When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love..."

However, as Levina leaned forward again to attempt to smell the potion once again, she looked up a fraction to see Draco gazing at her with his pale grey eyes. He was looking between her and the potion with a look of…curiosity? However, when he realized she was looking back at him, he hastily turned his gaze away.

"And now," said Slughorn, "it is time for us to start work."

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this one," said Ernie Macmillan, pointing at a small black cauldron standing on Slughorn's desk. The potion within was splashing about merrily; it was the color of molten gold, and large drops were leaping like goldfish above the surface, though not a particle had spilled.

"Oho," said Slughorn again. Levina was sure that Slughorn had not forgotten the potion at all, but had waited to be asked for dramatic effect. "Yes. That. Well, that one, ladies and gentlemen, is a most curious little potion called Felix Felicis. I take it," he turned, smiling, to look at Hermione, who had let out an audible gasp, "that you know what Felix Felicis does, Miss Granger?"

"It's liquid luck," said Hermione excitedly. "It makes you lucky!"

The whole class seemed to sit up a little straighter. Now all Levina could see of Draco was the back of his sleek blond head, because he was at last giving Slughorn his full and undivided attention.

"Quite right, take another ten points for Gryffindor. Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis," said Slughorn. "Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavors tend to succeed...at least until the effects wear off."

"Why don't people drink it all the time, sir?" said Terry Boot eagerly.

"Because if taken in excess, it causes giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence," said Slughorn. "Too much of a good thing, you know...highly toxic in large quantities. But taken sparingly, and very occasionally..."

"Have you ever taken it, sir?" asked Michael Corner with great interest.

"Twice in my life," said Slughorn. "Once when I was twenty-four, once when I was fifty-seven. Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days."

He gazed dreamily into the distance. Whether he was playacting or not, thought Levina, the effect was good.

"And that," said Slughorn, apparently coming back to earth, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson."

There was silence in which every bubble and gurgle of the surrounding potions seemed magnified tenfold.

"One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis," said Slughorn, taking a minuscule glass bottle with a cork in it out of his pocket and showing it to them all.

"How long will it last?" said Eternity Russell, and the other Slytherins turned to look at her, apparently having forgotten she was there.

"Enough for twelve hours' luck. From dawn till dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt.

"Now, I must give you warning that Felix Felicis is a banned substance in organized competition... sporting events, for instance, examinations, or elections. So the winner is to use it on an ordinary day only...and watch how that ordinary day becomes extraordinary!

"So," said Slughorn, suddenly brisk, "how are you to win this fabulous prize? Well, by turning to page ten of Advanced Potion Making. We have a little over an hour left to us, which should be time for you to make a decent attempt at the Draught of Living Death. I know it is more complex than anything you have attempted before, and I do not expect a perfect potion from anybody. The person who does best, however, will win little Felix here. Off you go!"

There was a scraping as everyone drew their cauldrons toward them and some loud clunks as people began adding weights to their scales, but nobody spoke. The concentration within the room was almost tangible. Levina saw Draco riffling feverishly through his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. It could not have been clearer that Draco really wanted that lucky day. _Well, we all do, _Levina reminded herself. She bent swiftly over the tattered book Slughorn had lent her.

Bending low to decipher the ingredients, Levina hurried off toward the store cupboard to find what she needed. As she dashed back to his cauldron, she saw Draco cutting up Valerian roots as fast as he could.  
>Everyone kept glancing around at what the rest of the class was doing; this was both an advantage and a disadvantage of Potions, that it was hard to keep your work private. Within ten minutes, the whole place was full of bluish steam. Hermione, of course, seemed to have progressed furthest. Her potion already resembled the "smooth, black currant-colored liquid" mentioned as the ideal halfway stage.<p>

Having finished chopping her roots, Levina bent low over her book again, frowning as she scanned the pages. She picked up a sopophorous bean and tried to cut it, but it slid out from under her fingers. Annoyed, she stabbed at it, but it continued to move away from her.

"Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?" Levina looked up; Slughorn was just passing the Slytherin table, near Draco. Beside him, Eternity rolled her eyes. She was attempting to, unsuccessfully, cut her sopophorous bean.

"Yes," said Slughorn, without looking at Draco, "I was sorry to hear he had died, although of course it wasn't unexpected, dragon pox at his age..."

And he walked away. Levina bent back over her cauldron, smirking. She could tell that Draco had expected to be treated like Levina or Zabini; perhaps even hoped for some preferential treatment of the type he had learned to expect from Snape. It looked as though Draco would have to rely on nothing but talent to win the bottle of Felix Felicis.

The sopophorous bean was proving very difficult to cut up. Levina scowled, agitated, and stabbed at it so hard that it flew across the room, nearly hitting one of the Ravenclaws. Her potion was still deep purple, though according to the book ought to be turning a light shade of lilac by now.

"How are you doing that?" demanded Hermione, who was redfaced and whose hair was growing bushier and bushier in the fumes from her cauldron; her potion was still resolutely purple.

Levina looked up to see Hermione staring over at Harry questioningly, whose potion had turned a pale pink.

"Add a clockwise stir—" said Harry.

"No, no, the book says counterclockwise!" Hermione snapped.

Harry shrugged and continued what he was doing. Levina frowned and peered over at Harry's book, which had noticeable scribble marks in it. Extra instructions? She continued to do what she was doing, stirring her potion, but it was turning a very dark pink color. She looked sideways at Harry's and began to mimic what he was doing.

Across the table, Ron was cursing fluently under his breath; his potion looked like liquid licorice.

"And time's...up!" called Slughorn. "Stop stirring, please!"

Slughorn moved slowly among the tables, peering into cauldrons. He made no comment, but occasionally gave the potions a stir or a sniff. At last he reached the table where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ernie were sitting. He smiled ruefully at the tarlike substance in Ron's cauldron. He passed over Ernie's navy concoction. Hermione's potion he gave an approving nod, as well Levina's. Then he saw Harry's, and a look of incredulous delight spread over his face.

"The clear winner!" he cried to the dungeon. "Excellent, excellent, Harry! Good lord, it's clear you've inherited your mother's talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was! Here you are, then, here you are—one bottle of Felix Felicis, as promised, and use it well!"

Harry slipped the tiny bottle of golden liquid into his inner pocket.

"How did you do that?" Ron whispered to Harry as they left the dungeon, dumbfounded.

"Got lucky, I suppose," said Harry, because Draco was within earshot.

Once they were securely ensconced at the Gryffindor table for dinner, however, Harry explained to them about his book with various notes in it, saying different things from the actual instructions. Hermione's face became stonier with every word he uttered.

"I s'pose you think I cheated?" he finished, aggravated by her expression.

"Well, it wasn't exactly your own work, was it?" she said stiffly.

"He only followed different instructions to ours," said Ron, "Could've been a catastrophe, couldn't it? But he took a risk and it paid off." He heaved a sigh. "Slughorn could've handed me that book, but no, I get the one no one's ever written on. Puked on, by the look of page fifty-two, but—"

"Hermione, let Harry have this," said Levina. "This is the first time any of us have done better than you at Potions—"

"Hang on," said a voice close by Levina's left; it was Ginny. "Did I hear right? You've been taking orders from something someone wrote in a book, Harry?"

She looked alarmed and angry. Levina had a feeling she knew what Ginny was thinking of.

"It's nothing," said Harry reassuringly, lowering his voice. "It's not like, you know, Riddle's diary. It's just an old textbook someone's scribbled on."

"But you're doing what it says?"

"I just tried a few of the tips written in the margins, honestly, Ginny, there's nothing funny—"

"Ginny's got a point," said Hermione, perking up at once. "We ought to check that there's nothing odd about it. I mean, all these funny instructions, who knows?"

"Hey!" said Harry indignantly, as she pulled his copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bag and raised her wand.

_She just wants an excuse to get rid of it, _thought Levina, rolling her eyes.

"Specialis Revelio!" she said, rapping it smartly on the front cover. Nothing whatsoever happened. The book simply lay there, looking old and dirty and dog-eared.

"Finished?" said Harry irritably. "Or d'you want to wait and see if it does a few backflips?"

"It seems all right," said Hermione, still staring at the book suspiciously. "I mean, it really does seem to be…just a textbook."

"Good. Then I'll have it back," said Harry, snatching it off the table.

…..

For or the rest of the week's Potions lessons, Levina watched Harry continue to follow the book's instructions, with the result that by their fourth lesson Slughorn was raving about Harry's abilities, saying that he had rarely taught anyone so talented. Levina, Ron, and Hermione were not delighted by this. He'd offered them to use the book as well, but Levina didn't feel right in using it. She occasionally took hints from it, however, when she was struggling, and easily made her way up to the second best in the class.

Harry sometimes skimmed through the book, and here and there were directions for what looked like spells that the Prince had made up himself (Apparently, the book had belonged to someone called the "Half Blood Prince.")

"Or herself," said Hermione irritably, overhearing Harry pointing some of these out to Ron in the common room on Saturday evening. "It might have been a girl. I think the handwriting looks more like a girl's than a boy's."

"The Half-Blood Prince, he was called," Harry said. "How many girls have been princes?"

"Sorry to say, Hermione, I'm siding with Harry on this one," said Levina, poring over her notes as she attempted to write her essay on "The Principles of Dematerialization". "I mean, if it said Half-Blood _princess…."_

Hermione seemed to have no answer to this. She merely scowled and twitched her essay on "The Principles of Dematerialization" away from Ron, who was trying to read it upside down.

Harry looked at his watch and hurriedly put the old copy of Advanced Potion-Making back into his bag.

"It's five to eight, I'd better go, I'll be late for Dumbledore."

"Ooooh!" gasped Hermione, looking up at once. "Good luck! We'll wait up, we want to hear what he teaches you!"

"Oh, merde!" said Levina, sitting upright in alarm. "I have to serve my detention with Snape—I forgot!"

"Well, let's go," said Harry, gathering his stuff. "You're almost late."

"Hope it goes okay," said Ron, and the two of them watched Harry and Levina leave through the portrait hole.

They parted from each other halfway down the hallway, Levina wishing him luck, but she couldn't suppress a horrible sinking feeling in her chest: Jealousy. She knew it was completely unreasonable and unfair of her, but she was envious of "The Chosen One", who had personal lessons with Dumbledore. While she on the other hand—

She'd barely knocked on Snape's office door before he appeared in the doorway.

"In," he ordered.

_In, _Levina mimicked in her mind as she strolled past him, taking an empty seat as far away from his desk as possible. "What do I have to do?"

"Sir."

"Right. What do I have to do, _sir?_" said Levina with deep, sarcastic emphasis on the word, all too reminded of her Occlumency lessons.

"You will be helping grade papers from my first year classes," said Snape smoothly, placing a large stack of parchment on her desk.

Levina stared at the load, horrified. _"All _of these? Sir?" she asked.

"You may leave when you're done," said Snape, and with that, he vanished behind a second stack of papers, most reading _"Third year" _in the upper right corner.

_Yeah, because this is _exactly _how I wanted to spend my Saturday Night, _thought Levina, sincerely wishing she was in Dumbledore's lessons with Harry.

After what seemed like over four hours, Levina left Snape's office, massaging her wrist and wincing as she made her way down the hallway. As she passed by the dungeons, there was the sudden sound of quiet footsteps behind her, and her first thought was _Eternity? _She _was _near the Slytherin common room.

"What?" said Levina, turning around to face her…or him.

Draco Malfoy stood behind her, carrying a book and a roll of parchment. His grey eyes flickered up to meet hers and then away. Up close, she could see exactly how pale he looked in the dim lighting, and he had a few rings under his eyes. Her first instinct was to ask if he was all right, but she corrected herself and snapped, "What? Quit stalking me."

A dull pink color crept across his too-pale features and his eyes narrowed. "Don't flatter yourself, Snow. I'm taking this book down to Slughorn's office. Not my decision," he added as Levina raised her eyebrows at him.

_Just Snow? _Thought Levina. _That's a new one…_

"Yeah, well, keep moving," said Levina, turning around on her heel to continue walking. The sound of his footsteps started up again.

There was a long pause, in which only the sound of their shoes could be heard scraping against the flooring, then Draco's voice behind her said, "What did you smell?"

Levina faltered in her footsteps. For a moment she thought she'd misheard him and he'd made a jab at her by asking about her smell. "You try a couple of hours in Snape's office and tell me that you smell good."

"No, I meant the Amortentia. What did you smell?"

Levina came to a halt halfway down the hallway, but she didn't turn around to face him. "Why are you messing with me again?"

"I'm not," said Draco, who was still walking, so that he passed her.

"It's quite frankly none of your business," Levina pointed out. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"I was just wondering," said Draco, shrugging.

Levina could feel her bewilderment growing at the sincerity of his words, but she wasn't sure how to respond. "Well…if you just _can't bear _not knowing, then…heat. Snow. The beach. Pineapples and green apples…and cinnamon buns. Oh, and rain." She left out the mention of Fred.

There was a short pause, but when Draco said nothing, she added, "Satisfied? …What did _you _smell?"

Draco shrugged. "It's embarrassing."

Levina snorted. "Like mine wasn't? You're being nosy...but two can play at that game, so…spill it."

Draco kept walking ahead of her, taking his time before answering. "Dew…bread, the forest…Pina Colada—"

Levina stared at him. Then she burst into a loud fit of laughter that caused him to turn around and look at her, also startling several of the occupants in the portraits lining the walls.

"_P-Pina Colada?" _she demanded, smirking through her hands, which had crept up to her mouth, muffling her laugh so that she wouldn't wake anyone up. _"Pfft! _Okay, you've pulled my leg a lot over the course of five years, but this? This is probably the worst joke you've ever made!"

"I wasn't joking," said Draco hotly.

"How would you even know what that is?" said Levina, still laughing. "Isn't it a _Muggle _thing?"

Draco made a noncommittal noise, but his face was beginning to flush a crimson color. "Whatever."

"No, no, go on, finish," said Levina, grinning. "It was just getting good."

For a moment Draco looked as though he would either refuse to answer, or get upset, but he mumbled, "Fine….Roses, fire, and lemons. Happy?"

Levina stopped laughing instantly. Startled, her heart skipped two beats and she froze in the middle of the hallway, stunned. Okay, the joke had gone _too far._

Apparently noticing her silence, Draco turned swiftly into the corridor on the left and said hastily, "Slughorn's office is here, so...'Night."

And with that, he vanished down the dimly-lit hallway, leaving Levina rooted on the spot, attempting to make words.

What had reduced her to the state of shock was that…those were all scents that related_ her_ in some way, no doubt about it. The Pina Colada, which she had found odd that someone like Draco would like, was a distinct perfume spray from Destiny that she used often since her fourth year. As for the lemons? That was the scent of her shampoo. The roses? That was the scent of the soap she used to clean her school robes. And the fire? Many of the Gryffindors commented (mostly at the start of the year) that she frequently smelled like something burning or fire, because she would take care of Ryuu, Destiny's Chinese Fireball, over the summer. She knew the smell, too, because Eric, who worked with dragons in Romania, always smelled like it.

There was no mistaking the connecting between the various aromas. In the last four words, he'd described…her.

And since_ when_ did he start saying ''Night' to her?

….

As Hermione had predicted, the sixth-years' free periods were not the hours of blissful relaxation Ron had anticipated, but times in which to attempt to keep up with the vast amount of homework they were being set. Not only were they studying as though they had exams every day, but the lessons themselves had become more demanding than ever before. Levina barely understood half of what Professor McGonagall said to them these days; even Hermione had had to ask her to repeat instructions once or twice. Incredibly, and to Hermione's increasing resentment, Harry's best subject had suddenly become Potions, thanks to the Half-Blood Prince. Levina's remained Defense Against the Dark Arts, although her grade was dropping to much less than it usually was, when they had a decent teacher.

Non-verbal spells were now expected, not only in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but in Charms and Transfiguration too. This was easy enough for Levina, but almost half the students in each class would turn a dark purple color as they attempted to concentrate.

It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind.

The following Saturday at breakfast, Levina, having kept her conversation with Draco to herself, couldn't take it anymore and ended up sharing it with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"He was probably just trying to mess with your head," said Ron as he took a large bite of buttered toast.

"Well, it's a pretty elaborate joke, if that's the case," said Levina, stirring her oatmeal around and around in its bowl.

"Yes, it is odd," said Hermione, frowning. "You said _four _of them described you?"

"That's what I've been saying!" said Levina.

"It was probably coincidence," said Hermione reasonably. "I mean, it wasn't like those were the only things he listed."

"I don't think that's the case, Hermione," said Harry, and Levina hastily changed subjects, hoping to just forget the situation and put it behind her.

One result of their enormous workload and the frantic hours of practicing non-verbal spells was that Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione had so far been unable to find time to go and visit Hagrid. He had stopped coming to meals at the staff table, an ominous sign, and on the few occasions when they had passed him in the corridors or out in the grounds, he had mysteriously failed to notice them or hear their greetings.

"We've got to go and explain," said Hermione, looking up at Hagrid's huge empty chair at the staff table the following Saturday at breakfast.

"We've got Quidditch tryouts this morning!" said Ron. "And we're supposed to be practicing that Aguamenti Charm from Flitwick! Anyway, explain what? How are we going to tell him we hated his stupid subject?"

"We didn't hate it!" said Hermione.

"It was an _okay _subject," said Levina, shrugging.

"Speak for yourself, I haven't forgotten the Skrewts," said Ron darkly. "And I'm telling you now, we've had a narrow escape. You didn't hear him going on about his brother—we'd have been teaching Grawp how to tie his shoelaces if we'd stayed."

"I hate not talking to Hagrid," said Hermione, looking upset.

"We'll go down after Quidditch," Harry assured her. "But trials might take all morning, the number of people who have applied…I dunno why the team's this popular all of a sudden."

Levina rolled her eyes. "Harry, are you really that thick? Isn't it obvious?"

"It's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You've never been more interesting, and frankly, you've never been more fanciable," said Hermione.

Ron gagged on a large piece of kipper and Levina smirked. Hermione spared him one look of disdain before turning back to Harry.

"Everyone knows you've been telling the truth now, don't they? The whole Wizarding world has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they're calling you 'the Chosen One'—well, come on, can't you see why people are fascinated by you?"

Levina sighed heavily and stared upwards at the Hall ceiling, which was swirling with stormy grey clouds. She felt a horrible mixture of guilt and jealousy, a combination she would have preferred to live without. Of course, it's difficult to not envy someone, when they get all the glory, and the other gets…overly-protective Aurors following them around. _Stupid, _she thought to herself. _You're being so stupid! Harry's your friend…_

"And you've been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway..."

"You can still see where those brains got hold of me in the Ministry, look," said Ron, shaking back his sleeves.

"And it doesn't hurt that you've grown about a foot over the summer either," Hermione finished, ignoring Ron.

"I'm tall," said Ron inconsequentially.

The post owls arrived, swooping down through rain-flecked windows, scattering everyone with droplets of water. Most people were receiving more post than usual; anxious parents were keen to hear from their children and to reassure them, in turn, that all was well at home. Levina did not receive any more mail from one of her usual senders, seeing as he was no longer…living, but Destiny and Eric kept in touch with what they were doing.

Levina smirked as she unrolled one of the letters. "It's Eric," she said, scanning the neatly-written cursive. "He won't admit to anything between him and that girl in Romania…"

"What? Who?" said Hermione, looking up, interested, and Ron frowned at her in annoyance.

"Some girl he's mentoring at the dragon sanctuary," said Levina, and Hermione looked disappointed.

"Big deal," said Ron, whose eyes were locked on Hermione.

"Ah? Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Ronald?" said Levina, rolling her letter back up with a smile.

"No!" said Ron, glaring at her. "So he's 'good-looking' or whatever. It's just because he's half-Siren."

"Yeah, well, Destiny is too," said Levina, "and need I remind you of the way you act around her?"

Ron turned away moodily just as a package landed in front of him, crushing attached to his miniscule exhausted owl, Pigwidgeon. A moment later, Athena fluttered down from the sky, dropping an identical package into Levina's lap. The graceful Spectacled Owl took a seat on Levina's shoulder, nudging her cheek affectionately.

"Ha!" said Harry, unwrapping his own parcel to reveal a new copy of Advanced Potion-Making, fresh from Flourish and Blotts.

"Mine must be the same," said Levina, opening hers up to find, sure enough, a second copy of the book.

"Oh good," said Hermione, delighted. "Now you can give that graffitied copy back."

"Are you mad?" said Harry. "I'm keeping it! Look, I've thought it out—"

He pulled the old copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bag and tapped the cover with his wand, muttering, "Diffindo!" The cover fell off. He did the same thing with the brand-new book (Hermione looked scandalized). He then swapped the covers, tapped each, and said, "Reparo!"

There sat the Prince's copy, disguised as a new book, and there sat the fresh copy from Flourish and Blotts, looking thoroughly second-hand.

"I'll give Slughorn back the new one, he can't complain, it cost nine Galleons."

"Brilliant," said Levina, shaking her head. "Wickedly brilliant, Harry."

Hermione pressed her lips together, looking angry and disapproving, but was distracted by a third owl landing in front of her carrying that day's copy of the Daily Prophet. She unfolded it hastily and scanned the front page.

"Anyone we know dead?" asked Ron in a determinedly casual voice; he posed the same question every time Hermione opened her paper.

"No, but there have been more dementor attacks," said Hermione. "And an arrest."

"Excellent, who?" said Harry.

"I'm personally hoping it was Bellatrix," said Levina, thinking of the horrible, mad woman who killed Sirius Black and Destiny's mother, Celeste Levesque.

"Stan Shunpike," said Hermione.

"What?" said Harry, startled.

"You're kidding!" said Levina, leaning forward in her seat.

"'Stanley Shunpike, conductor on the popular Wizarding conveyance the Knight Bus, has been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity. Mr. Shunpike, 21, was taken into custody late last night after a raid on his Clapham home...'"

"Stan Shunpike, a Death Eater?" said Harry. "No way!"

"He didn't seem like the type," said Levina.

"He might have been put under the Imperius Curse," said Ron reasonably. "You never can tell."

"It doesn't look like it," said Hermione, who was still reading. "It says here he was arrested after he was overheard talking about the Death Eaters' secret plans in a pub." She looked up with a troubled expression on her face. "If he was under the Imperius Curse, he'd hardly stand around gossiping about their plans, would he?"

"It sounds like he was trying to make out he knew more than he did," said Ron. "Isn't he the one who claimed he was going to become Minister of Magic when he was trying to chat up those Veela?"

"Yeah, that's him," said Harry. "I dunno what they're playing at, taking Stan seriously."

"They probably want to look as though they're doing something," said Hermione, frowning. "People are terrified—you know the Patil twins' parents want them to go home? And Eloise Midgen has already been withdrawn. Her father picked her up last night."

"That's mad!" said Levina, astonished.

"But Hogwarts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We've got Aurors, and all those extra protective spells, and we've got Dumbledore!" said Ron.

"I don't think we've got him all the time," said Hermione very quietly, glancing toward the staff table over the top of the Prophet. "Haven't you noticed? His seat's been empty as often as Hagrid's this past week."

Harry, Levina, and Ron looked up at the staff table. The Headmaster's chair was indeed empty. Now that she thought about it, Levina hadn't actually seen Dumbledore since the first feast.

"I think he's left the school to do something with the Order," said Hermione in a low voice. "I mean... it's all looking serious, isn't it?"

Harry and Ron did not answer, but Levina knew that they were all thinking the same thing. There had been a horrible incident the day before, when Hannah Abbott had been taken out of Herbology to be told her mother had been found dead. They had not seen Hannah since.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, guys! Sorry to cut the story off a bit abruptly; it was becoming <strong>_**way **_**too long. Leave a review telling me your opinions; I'm excited to hear your thoughts!**

**Review Responses:**

**Flower getting' Lady: Wow, that was a long review! And for that, I'm appreciative (: Anyway, thanks! And sorry they didn't have more of a moment, but don't worry, I have a very specific plan when it comes to Draco and Levina…*Laughs maniacally* Levina **_**should **_**just rip off Snape's head; it would solve a lot of problems…As for the whole Severus meaning grumpy thing…I probably will use that! Thanks for the tip :D**

**TheVampireDiariesPwincess: Thank you! Yes, yes, I'm evil; but what's a good story without a little suspense? ;)**

**Things to come: Gryffindor tryouts, Hagrid, and more!**


	6. Quidditch tryouts and cursed necklaces

**Disclaimer: Ha! Me? _J.K. Rowling? _Get real, people. **

* * *

><p>When they left the Gryffindor table five minutes later to head down to the Quidditch pitch, they passed Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Remembering what Hermione had said about the Patil twins' parents wanting them to leave Hogwarts, Levina was unsurprised to see that the two best friends were whispering together, looking distressed. What did surprise her was that when Ron drew level with them, Parvati suddenly nudged Lavender, who looked around and gave Ron a wide smile. Ron blinked at her, then returned the smile uncertainly. His walk instantly became something more like a strut; Levina covered her mouth to prevent any laughter, but Hermione, however, looked cold and distant all the way down to the stadium through the cool, misty drizzle, and departed to find a place in the stands without wishing Ron good luck.<p>

As Levina had expected, the trials took most of the morning. Half of Gryffindor House seemed to have turned up, from first years who were nervously clutching a selection of the dreadful old school brooms, to seventh years who towered over the rest, looking coolly intimidating. Levina stood among the group, feeling much more out of place than ever before…Fred and George were no longer there, and she felt like a stranger to all of them, even though they were in her own House.

_You can do this on your own, _Levina thought to herself encouragingly as she attached her _"Unbeatable Beater" _badge to her shirt. _You don't need the Weasley twins to do well. _Of course, at the sight of her badge, she was reminded of how Fred used to call her "Miss Unbeatable Beater" before most of the games. _Miss Unbeatable Beater, _she thought, testing it out in her head. _Yeah, just keep repeating it…in Fred's voice. Yeah. Miss Unbeatable Be—_

"Hi."

Levina looked up from adjusting her badge to see Eternity Russell standing before her, clutching a stack of books. Her long, cherry-red hair was messily tied into a ponytail.

"Oh…hi," said Levina awkwardly. She was still wary of Eternity, considering she and the Slytherin had never spoken before until the end of last year. She knew she was being unfair to not trust her, just because she was a Slytherin, but, nevertheless, she kept her distance. "What are you doing here? This is _Gryffindor_ tryouts."

"Studying," said Eternity, holding out her stack of books to Levina; one of them was a Potions novel. "I'm trying to get better at Potions, but…that Harry Potter seems to have something that none of us do." She laughed lightly.

For a moment, Levina thought Eternity might know about the Half-Blood Prince, but she appeared to be referring to Harry himself. "Yeah, I guess he just has a knack for them," said Levina.

"Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I'm in the stands," said Eternity, gesturing towards them. "I'm not trying out for the Slytherin team until later."

"No, it's fine," said Levina. "Just don't—"

"Hey there," said a sudden voice behind Levina, too close for comfort. She jumped, startled, and turned around to see Cormac McLaggen standing there, towering over her. She backed up two steps.

"Um," said Levina uncertainly.

"We met on the train, in old Sluggy's compartment," he said confidently, stepping towards her to shake her hand. "Cormac McLaggen, Keeper." Apparently he thought she'd forgotten who he was.

"Right," said Levina, but she didn't take his hand. "Levina Snowpetal, Beater."

"I know that," said McLaggen. "You're probably the best one I've seen."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," said Levina modestly. "I mean, Fred and George—"

"—were good, but not the best," finished McLaggen. Levina's eyes narrowed indignantly, but before she could speak, Eternity answered him.

"I thought they were really good," said Eternity, frowning up at him. "The three of them made a decent team."

"And who are you to talk, _Slytherin?" _said McLaggen, turning on her with a glare. "What are you even doing on our field?"

Eternity glowered right back. "Studying. Or is that illegal here now?"

McLaggen hadn't even opened his mouth before Harry called for them to gather around him. Eternity turned sharply away from McLaggen and strode into the stands, her cloak billowing behind her, and Levina and McLaggen made their way over to where Harry stood, but as she walked, Levina couldn't help but notice how McLaggen matched her feet step for step, right beside her. When they reached Harry, she purposely moved away from him and crammed in between Harry and Ron, hoping he wouldn't follow.

Harry decided to start with a basic test, asking all applicants for the team to divide into groups of ten and fly once around the pitch. This was a good decision: the first ten was made up of first years, and it could not have been plainer that they had hardly ever flown before. Only one boy managed to remain airborne for more than a few seconds, and he was so surprised he promptly crashed into one of the goal posts.

The second group was comprised of ten of the silliest girls Levina had ever encountered, who, when he blew his whistle, merely fell about giggling and clutching one another. Romilda Vane was amongst them. When he told them to leave the pitch, they did so quite cheerfully and went to sit in the stands to heckle everyone else.

The third group had a pile-up halfway around the pitch. Most of the fourth group had come without broomsticks. The fifth group were Hufflepuffs.

"If there's anyone else here who's not from Gryffindor," roared Harry, annoyed, "leave now, please!"

There was a pause, then a couple of little Ravenclaws went sprinting off the pitch, snorting with laughter. Eternity looked up from her book in the stands, but Levina motioned to her that she was fine where she was, and she ducked her nose back into the novel.

After two hours, many complaints, and several tantrums, one involving a crashed Comet Two Sixty and several broken teeth, Harry had found himself three Chasers: Katie Bell, returned to the team after an excellent trial; a new find called Demelza Robins, who was particularly good at dodging Bludgers; and Ginny Weasley, who had outflown all the competition and scored seventeen goals to boot.

Levina knocked away every single Bludger that came in her direction, swinging the bat hard. She'd gotten more upper body strength through her years of Quidditch, but she had a feeling she would do much better if she could _just _take off her necklace…She suppressed the desire, however, after whacking two more Bludgers away just before they hit Harry and Katie Bell.

"That's my final decision and if you don't get out of the way of the Keepers I'll hex you," Harry bellowed to several rejected Beaters. Levina, of course, was among the ones chosen. She was okay with his choice of Beaters; neither had the old brilliance of Fred and George, but she was still reasonably pleased with them: Jimmy Peakes, a short but broad-chested third-year boy who had managed to raise a lump the size of an egg on the back of Harry's head with a ferociously hit Bludger, and Ritchie Coote, who looked weedy but aimed well. They now joined Katie, Demelza, and Ginny in the stands to watch the selection of their last team member.

When it came time to choose the Keepers, Levina sat in the stands, near Eternity but not next to her, and watched. As each Keeper flew up to the goal hoops, the crowd roared and jeered in equal measure. Levina searched the skies until she found Ron, who was a delicate shade of green in the face.

None of the first five applicants saved more than two goals apiece. To Levina's great disappointment, Cormac McLaggen saved four penalties out of five; she already didn't like him, his attitude, or the way he seemed glued to her during the practice. On the last one, however, he shot off in completely the wrong direction; the crowd laughed and booed and McLaggen returned to the ground grinding his teeth. _Odd, _thought Levina, replaying the scene in her head. _He looked as though he'd been hit with a jinx…_

Meanwhile, Ron looked ready to pass out as he mounted his Cleansweep Eleven.

"Good luck!" cried a voice from above Levina in the stands. Levina looked around, expecting to see Hermione, but it was Lavender Brown. What was with Lavender's sudden interest in Ron lately? She found it really strange, but as it was none of her business, she didn't question her.

"You'll do brilliant!" Levina shouted in encouragement, but she was now looking over her shoulder, frowning. Where was Hermione, anyway?

Ron saved one, two, three, four, five penalties in a row, one more than McLaggen had. _Yes! _She thought. Delighted, Levina cheered happily as Harry broke the news to McLaggen that Ron would be the Keeper, instead of him. McLaggen did not take it lightly; he got face to face with Harry, and Levina subconsciously reached for her wand, eyeing him suspiciously. Near her, Eternity stole a quick glance up from her book to see what the ruckus was, and then continued reading.

"I'm glad your friend won," she said quietly, her voice lined with malice that was clearly directed at McLaggen.

"Me too," said Levina, still clapping. She got to her feet and climbed down the stands to greet Harry and Ron, exchanging congrats between them.

"Well done, Levina," said Harry, delighted. "You flew really well—"

"Thanks," said Levina, beaming.

"You did brilliantly, Ron!"

This time it really was Hermione running toward them from the stands; Levina saw Lavender walking off the pitch, arm in arm with Parvati, a rather grumpy expression on her face. Ron looked extremely pleased with himself and even taller than usual as he grinned at the team and at Hermione.

After fixing the time of their first full practice for the following Thursday, Harry, Levina, Ron, and Hermione bade goodbye to the rest of the team and headed off toward Hagrid's. A watery sun was trying to break through the clouds now and it had stopped drizzling at last. Levina's stomach clenched in hunger, and she wondered if Hagrid might have anything to eat…_At this point, I'd probably eat even a rock cake. _

"I thought I was going to miss that fourth penalty," Ron was saying happily. "Tricky shot from Demelza, did you see, had a bit of spin on it—"

"Yes, yes, you were magnificent," said Hermione, looking amused.

"I was better than that McLaggen anyway," said Ron in a highly satisfied voice, and Levina sighed in relief.

"I'm really glad he didn't make it," she said, stretching her limbs. "He's pretty conceited, don't you think?"

"And it sounds like he's got a thing for you," said Harry grimly.

"Did you see him lumbering off in the wrong direction on his fifth? Looked like he'd been Confunded…" said Ron.

To Levina's surprise, Hermione turned a very deep shade of pink at these words. Ron noticed nothing; he was too busy describing each of his other penalties in loving detail.

The great gray hippogriff, Buckbeak, was tethered in front of Hagrid's cabin. He clicked his razor-sharp beak at their approach and turned his huge head toward them.

"Oh dear," said Hermione nervously. "He's still a bit scary, isn't he?"

"Come off it, you've ridden him, haven't you?" said Ron. Harry stepped forward and bowed low to the hippogriff without breaking eye contact or blinking. After a few seconds, Buckbeak sank into a bow too, then Levina did the same in kind, earning a second bow in her direction.

"Aw, how could Hermione be scared of you?" said Levina, smoothing the feathers on his back.

"How are you?" Harry asked him, moving forward to stroke the feathery head. "Missing him? But you're okay here with Hagrid, aren't you?"

"Oi!" said a loud voice.

Hagrid had come striding around the corner of his cabin wearing a large flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes. His enormous boarhound, Fang, was at his heels; Fang gave a booming bark and bounded forward.

"Git away from him! He'll have yer fingers—oh. It's yeh lot."

Fang was jumping up at Hermione, Levina, and Ron, attempting to lick their ears. Hagrid stood and looked at them all for a split second, then turned and strode into his cabin, slamming the door behind him.

"Oh dear!" said Hermione, looking stricken.

"That's not a good sign," said Levina.

"Don't worry about it," said Harry grimly. He walked over to the door and knocked loudly.

"Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!"

There was no sound from within.

"If you don't open the door, we'll blast it open!" Harry said, pulling out his wand.

"Harry!" said Hermione, sounding shocked.

"Well, this certainly looks like a good idea," said Levina sarcastically.

"You can't possibly—" said Hermione.

"Yeah, I can!" said Harry. "Stand back—"

But before he could say anything else, the door flew open again, and there stood Hagrid, glowering down at him and looking, despite the flowery apron, positively alarming.

"I'm a teacher!" he roared at Harry. "A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!"

"I'm sorry, sir," said Harry, emphasizing the last word as he stowed his wand inside his robes. Levina stared blankly over at him, perplexed.

Hagrid looked stunned. "Since when have yeh called me 'sir'?"

"Since when have you called me 'Potter'?"

"Oh, very clever," growled Hagrid. "Very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ', come in then, yeh ungrateful little..."

Mumbling darkly, he stood back to let them pass. Hermione scurried in after Harry, looking rather frightened, and Levina slipped in behind them both, taking a seat on the far left of the enormous wooden table.

"Well?" said Hagrid grumpily, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down near Levina at the table. "What's this? Feelin' sorry for me? Reckon I'm lonely or summat?"

"No," said Harry at once. "We wanted to see you."

"We don't ever see you anymore," said Levina.

"We've missed you!" said Hermione tremulously.

"Missed me, have yeh?" snorted Hagrid. "Yeah. Righ'."

He stomped around, brewing up tea in his enormous copper kettle, muttering all the while. Finally he slammed down four bucket-sized mugs of mahogany-brown tea in front of them and a plate of his rock cakes. Levina grabbed for one gratefully and attempted to eat it without breaking any of her teeth.

"Hagrid," said Hermione timidly, when he joined them at the table and started peeling his potatoes with a brutality that suggested that each tuber had done him a great personal wrong, "we really wanted to carry on with Care of Magical Creatures, you know." Hagrid gave another great snort, and Levina could have sworn some bogeys landed on the potatoes. _Good thing we're not staying for dinner…_

"We did!" said Hermione. "But none of us could fit it into our schedules!"

"Yeah. Righ'," said Hagrid again.

There was a funny squelching sound and they all looked around: Hermione let out a tiny shriek, Levina screamed and fell sideways off her chair, and Ron leapt out of his seat and hurried around the table away from the large barrel standing in the corner that they had only just noticed. It was full of what looked like foot-long maggots, slimy, white, and writhing.

"What are they, Hagrid?" asked Harry, sounding falsely interested.

"Jus' giant grubs," said Hagrid.

"And they grow into...?" said Ron, looking apprehensive.

"They won' grow inter nuthin'," said Hagrid.

"Are you sure?" said Levina, getting to her feet with the help of Harry's hand.

"Yeah. I got 'em ter feed ter Aragog."

And without warning, he burst into tears.

"Hagrid!" cried Hermione, leaping up, hurrying around the table the long way to avoid the barrel of maggots, and putting an arm around his shaking shoulders. "What is it?"

"It's...him..." gulped Hagrid, his beetle-black eyes streaming as he mopped his face with his apron. "It's... Aragog…I think he's dyin'...He got ill over the summer an' he's not gettin' better... I don' know what I'll do if he...if he...We've bin tergether so long..."

Hermione patted Hagrid's shoulder, looking at a complete loss for anything to say. Levina knew what she was thinking about: the gigantic talking spider, Aragog, who dwelled deep in the Forbidden Forest, had attempted to kill Levina, Harry, and Ron four years ago.

"Oh no," said Levina, trying to sound compassionate, but she couldn't help but think of what all Aragog's children would do with him gone…

"Is there—is there anything we can do?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron's frantic grimaces and head-shakings.

"I don' think there is, Hermione," choked Hagrid, attempting to stem the flood of his tears. "See, the rest o' the tribe...Aragog's family…they're gettin' a bit funny now he's ill... bit restive..."

"Yeah, I think we saw a bit of that side of them," said Ron in an undertone.

"...I don' reckon it'd be safe fer anyone but me ter go near the colony at the mo'," Hagrid finished, blowing his nose hard on his apron and looking up. "But thanks fer offerin', Hermione... It means a lot."

After that, the atmosphere lightened considerably, for although Harry, Levina, and Ron had not shown any inclination to go and feed giant grubs to a murderous, gargantuan spider, Hagrid seemed to take it for granted that they would have liked to have done and became his usual self once more.

"Ar, I always knew yeh'd find it hard ter squeeze me inter yer timetables," he said gruffly, pouring them more tea. "Even if yeh applied fer Time-Turners—"

"We couldn't have done," said Hermione. "We smashed the entire stock of Ministry Time-Turners when we were there last summer. It was in the Daily Prophet."

"Ar, well then," said Hagrid. "There's no way yeh could've done it...I'm sorry I've bin—yeh know—I've jus' bin worried about Aragog...an I did wonder whether, if Professor Grubbly-Plank had bin teachin' yeh—"

At which all four of them stated categorically and untruthfully that Professor Grubbly-Plank, who had substituted for Hagrid a few times, was a dreadful teacher, with the result that by the time Hagrid waved them off the premises at dusk, he looked quite cheerful.

"I'm starving," said Harry, once the door had closed behind them and they were hurrying through the dark and deserted grounds.

"Me too," said Levina, as her stomach gave a fittingly loud groan. "I think I nearly cracked a tooth on that rock cake…"

"And I've got that detention with Snape tonight, I haven't got much time for dinner," said harry.

As they came into the castle they spotted Cormac McLaggen entering the Great Hall. It took him two attempts to get through the doors; he ricocheted off the frame on the first attempt. Ron merely guffawed gloatingly and strode off into the Hall after him, but Harry caught Hermione's arm and held her back. Levina turned curiously to look back at the pair.

"What?" said Hermione defensively.

"If you ask me," said Harry quietly, "McLaggen looks like he was Confunded this morning. And he was standing right in front of where you were sitting."

Hermione blushed.

"Oh, all right then, I did it," she whispered. "But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny! Anyway, he's got a nasty temper, you saw how he reacted when he didn't get in—you wouldn't have wanted someone like that on the team."

"No," said Harry. "No, I suppose that's true. But wasn't that dishonest, Hermione? I mean, you're a prefect, aren't you?"

"Oh, be quiet," she snapped, as he smirked.

"I knew something had happened," said Levina, grinning, "but I never would have guessed that it was you."

Hermione shrugged as if it didn't matter, but she was smiling.

"What are you three doing?" demanded Ron, reappearing in the doorway to the Great Hall and looking suspicious.

"Nothing," said Harry, Levina, and Hermione together, and they hurried after Ron. The smell of roast beef made Levina's stomach ache with hunger, but they had barely taken three steps toward the Gryffindor table when Professor Slughorn appeared in front of them, blocking their path.

"Harry, Harry, just the man I was hoping to see!" he boomed genially, twiddling the ends of his walrus mustache and puffing out his enormous belly, "I was hoping to catch you before dinner! What do you say to a spot of supper tonight in my rooms instead? We're having a little party, just a few rising stars, I've got McLaggen coming and Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin—I don't know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries—and, of course, I hope very much that Miss Granger will favor me by coming too, and _obviously _Miss Snowpetal?"

Slughorn made Hermione and Levina a little bow as he finished speaking. It was as though Ron was not present; Slughorn did not so much as look at him.

"I can't come, Professor," said Harry at once. "I've got a detention with Professor Snape."

"Oh dear!" said Slughorn, his face falling comically. "Dear, dear, I was counting on you, Harry! Well, now, I'll just have to have a word with Severus and explain the situation. I'm sure I'll be able to persuade him to postpone your detention. Yes, I'll see you three later!"

He bustled away out of the Hall.

"Damn," said Levina, the moment Slughorn was out of earshot, "quick, start a food fight or something so I can get a detention too—"

"It doesn't matter; he's got no chance of persuading Snape," said Harry. "This detention's already been postponed once; Snape did it for Dumbledore, but he won't do it for anyone else."

"Oh, I wish you could come, I don't want to go on my own!" said Hermione anxiously.

"You won't be alone," said Levina, slightly affronted. _"I'll_be there."

"Yeah, and Ginny'll probably be invited," snapped Ron, who did not seem to have taken kindly to being ignored by Slughorn.

After dinner they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. The common room was very crowded, as most people had finished dinner by now, but they managed to find a free table and sat down; Ron, who had been in a bad mood ever since the encounter with Slughorn, folded his arms and frowned at the ceiling. Levina sat down in one of the seats and allowed Lilypad to hop into her lap, purring, with Draco's shoelace in her mouth. Hermione reached out for a copy of the Evening Prophet, which somebody had left abandoned on a chair.

"Anything new?" said Harry.

"Not really..." Hermione had opened the newspaper and was scanning the inside pages. "Oh, look, your dad's in here, Ron—he's all right!" she added quickly, for Ron had looked around in alarm. "It just says he's been to visit the Malfoys' house. 'This second search of the Death Eaters residence does not seem to have yielded any results. Arthur Weasley of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a confidential tip-off.'"

"Yeah, mine!" said Harry. "I told him at Kings Cross about Malfoy and that thing he was trying to get Borgin to fix! Well, if it's not at their house, he must have brought whatever it is to Hogwarts with him—"

"But how can he have done, Harry?" said Hermione, putting down the newspaper with a surprised look. "We were all searched when we arrived, weren't we?"

"Were you?" said Harry, taken aback. "Levina and I weren't!"

"Oh no, of course you weren't, I forgot you were late. Well, Filch ran over all of us with Secrecy Sensors when we got into the entrance hall. Any Dark object would have been found, I know for a fact Crabbe had a shrunken head confiscated," she added, and Levina made a disgusted expression. "So you see, Malfoy can't have brought in anything dangerous!"

Harry grew quiet for a moment.

"Someone's sent it to him by owl, then," he said. "His mother or someone."

"Oh, come off it, Harry!" said Levina, exasperated as she removed Fred the Pygmy Puff from her bag. The furry creature bounded around in her lap and rolled past Lilypad, who hissed at it the ball of pink fur in irritation. "You're becoming obsessed with this."

"All the owls are being checked too," said Hermione. "Filch told us so when he was jabbing those Secrecy Sensors everywhere he could reach."

Seeming unable to think of anything else to say, Harry turned to Ron.

"Can you think of any way Malfoy—?"

"Oh, drop it, Harry," said Ron.

"Listen, it's not my fault Slughorn invited Levina, Hermione, and me to his stupid party, none of us wanted to go, you know!" said Harry, firing up.

"Well, as I'm not invited to any parties," said Ron, getting to his feet again, "I think I'll go to bed."

He stomped off toward the door to the boys' dormitories, leaving Harry, Levina, and Hermione staring after him.

"Harry?" said the new Chaser, Demelza Robins, appearing suddenly at his shoulder. "I've got a message for you."

"From Professor Slughorn?" asked Harry, sitting upright with a hopefully look.

"No…from Professor Snape," said Demelza, and Harry sank back down. "He says you're to come to his office at half past eight tonight to do your detention—er—no matter how many party invitations you've received. And he wanted you to know you'll be sorting out rotten flobberworms from good ones, to use in Potions and—and he says there's no need to bring protective gloves."

"Right," said Harry grimly. "Thanks a lot, Demelza."

"That sounds a lot worse than what I had to do," said Levina. "I just had to grade a bunch of papers…although it did leave my hand really sore," she added, giving it a small shake. "Ever since Umbridge carved those words into my arm, my hand has been less able to take writing more than a couple of essays…" She pulled back her sleeve and stared down at the words _Filthy Half-Breed _engraved into her arm. "I hope I never have to see that toad's ugly face ever again…"

….

Halfway through October came their first trip of the term to Hogsmeade. Normally, Levina would be delighted by this opportunity, but she couldn't help but wonder, with a sinking feeling, about how the trip would feel, now that Fred was no longer there. She remembered their first official date, when he'd kissed her in the rain outside Madam Puddifoot's…

Levina woke early on the morning of the trip, which was proving stormy, and whiled away the time until breakfast by reading her copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them. _Hermione wasn't awake yet, but Lavender and Parvati were already up, giggling about something among themselves. For some reason, they continually looked over in Levina's direction, then giggled harder. Levina's eyes narrowed.

"What's so funny?" she demanded.

"Nothing," giggled Parvati, and Lavender nudged her hard in the ribs.

"Look, if you're making fun of me or something—" Levina began sharply.

"No, no, it's not about you!" said Lavender hastily, apparently remembering the last time Levina had an outburst. "It's just…" she began giggling again.

"Just what?" said Levina, dog-earing the page of her book.

"Just—you're friends with—_him," _said Lavender, and Parvati gave Lavender a playful shove on the shoulder.

"'Him'?" Levina repeated.

"No one," said Parvati, but as they exited the dormitory, Levina could hear them saying something that had the unmistakable name of "Ron" in it.

_Oh, _thought Levina. _Duh. Lavender must fancy Ron or something…Why couldn't they have just said that in the first place?_

By the time she had gotten dressed, padding herself out with Mrs. Weasley's hand-knitted sweater and carrying a cloak, a scarf, and gloves, she found herself at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, where Harry was re-telling an event that had occurred in the guys' dormitory; apparently Harry had used some sort of new spell on Ron, causing him to hang upside-down by his ankles.

"... and then there was another flash of light and I landed on the bed again!" Ron grinned, helping himself to sausages.

"That's hilarious!" said Levina, taking a large gulp of pumpkin juice. "Nice one, Harry!"

Hermione had not cracked a smile during this anecdote, and now turned an expression of wintry disapproval upon Harry.

"Was this spell, by any chance, another one from that potion book of yours?" she asked.

Harry frowned at her.

"Always jump to the worst conclusion, don't you?"

"Was it?"

"Well... yeah, it was, but so what?"

"I suppose it could have been dangerous," said Levina, shrugging, "but it wasn't, so…"

"So you just decided to try out an unknown, handwritten incantation and see what would happen?"

"Why does it matter if it's handwritten?" said Harry, preferring not to answer the rest of the question.

"Because it's probably not Ministry of Magic approved," said Hermione. "And also," she added, as Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, "because I'm starting to think this Prince character was a bit dodgy."

"Oh, lighten up, Hermione!" said Levina, exasperated. "What's the big deal?"

"It was a laugh!" said Ron, upending a ketchup bottle over his sausages. "Just a laugh, Hermione, that's all!"

"Dangling people upside down by the ankle?" said Hermione. "Who puts their time and energy into making up spells like that?"

"Fred and George," said Ron, shrugging, "it's their kind of thing. And, er—"

"My dad," said Harry.

"Oh yeah," said Levina, recalling the memory. "Mine too."

"What?" said Ron and Hermione together.

"My dad used this spell," said Harry. "And Levina's father was there. I—Lupin told us."

This last part was not true; in fact, Levina had seen Harry's father use the spell on Snape, but she had never told Ron and Hermione about that particular excursion into the Pensieve. Now, however, a wonderful possibility occurred to her. Could the Half-Blood Prince possibly be—?

"Maybe your dad did use it, Harry," said Hermione, "but he's not the only one. We've seen a whole bunch of people use it, in case you've forgotten. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless."

With a sinking feeling, Levina too remembered the behavior of the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup, and the thought made her stomach churn uneasily. Ron, however, came to their aid.

"That was different," he said robustly. "They were abusing it. Harry and his dad were just having a laugh. You don't like the Prince, Hermione," he added, pointing a sausage at her sternly, "because he's better than you at Potions—"

"It's got nothing to do with that!" said Hermione, her cheeks reddening. "I just think it's very irresponsible to start performing spells when you don't even know what they're for, and stop talking about 'the Prince' as if it's his title, I bet it's just a stupid nickname, and it doesn't seem as though he was a very nice person to me!"

"I don't see where you get that from," said Harry heatedly. "If he'd been a budding Death Eater he wouldn't have been boasting about being 'half-blood,' would he?"

"The Death Eaters can't all be pure-blood, there aren't enough pure-blood wizards left," said Hermione stubbornly. "I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It's only Muggle-borns they hate, they'd be quite happy to let you, Levina, and Ron join up."

"_Ha!" _scoffed Levina so loudly that a couple of passing first years turned to look at her, startled. "You've got to be kidding! I'm a blood traitor, and I'm not even entirely pure blood, need I remind you." She pulled back her sleeve, only enough so their group could see the words engraved there. _"Half-_Breed. _Half."_

"There is no way they'd let me be a Death Eater!" said Ron indignantly, a bit of sausage flying off the fork he was now brandishing at Hermione and hitting Ernie Macmillan on the head. "My whole family are blood traitors! That's as bad as Muggle-borns to Death Eaters!"

"And they'd love to have me," said Harry sarcastically. "We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in."

This made Ron and Levina laugh; even Hermione gave a grudging smile, and a distraction arrived in the shape of Ginny.

"Hey, Harry, I'm supposed to give you this."

It was a scroll of parchment with Harry's name written upon it in thin, slanting writing.

"Thanks, Ginny...It's Dumbledore's next lesson!" Harry told Ron, Levina, and Hermione, pulling open the parchment and quickly reading its contents. "Monday evening!" He felt suddenly light and happy. "Want to join us in Hogsmeade, Ginny?" he asked.

"I'm going with Dean—might see you there," she replied, waving at them as she left.

Filch was standing at the oak front doors as usual, checking off the names of people who had permission to go into Hogsmeade. The process took even longer than normal as Filch was triple-checking everybody with his Secrecy Sensor.

"Watch where you're jabbing that thing," said Levina aggressively as Filch checked her.

"What does it matter if we're smuggling Dark stuff OUT?" demanded Ron, eyeing the long thin Secrecy Sensor with apprehension. "Surely you ought to be checking what we bring back IN?"

His cheek earned him a few extra jabs with the Sensor, and he was still wincing as they stepped out into the wind and sleet.

The walk into Hogsmeade was not enjoyable, at least for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were freezing cold. Levina, on the other hand, radiated her own heat, due to the werewolf gene. The three of them huddled close to her for warmth as they made their way down the road to the village, which was full of students bent double against the bitter wind. Their group passed by Zonko's Joke Shop, which Levina eagerly turned to, wanting to go in, but to her dismay, the shop had been boarded up. Ron pointed, with a thickly gloved hand, toward Honeydukes, which was mercifully open, and Harry, Levina, and Hermione staggered in his wake into the crowded shop.

"Thank God," shivered Ron as they were enveloped by warm, toffee-scented air. "Let's stay here all afternoon."

"Harry, m'boy! Miss Snowpetal!" said a booming voice from behind them.

"Oh no," muttered Harry. The three of them turned to see Professor Slughorn, who was wearing an enormous furry hat and an overcoat with matching fur collar, clutching a large bag of crystallized pineapple, and occupying at least a quarter of the shop.

"Harry, that's three of my little suppers you've missed now!" said Slughorn, poking him genially in the chest. "It won't do, m'boy, I'm determined to have you! Miss Granger and Miss Snowpetal love them, don't you?"

"No," said Levina in a quiet mutter at the exact same time as Hermione said helplessly, "Yes, they're really—"

"So why don't you come along, Harry?" demanded Slughorn.

"Well, I've had Quidditch practice, Professor," said Harry, who Levina knew had indeed been scheduling practices every time Slughorn had sent them a little, violet ribbon-adorned invitation. This strategy meant that Ron was not left out, and they usually had a laugh with Ginny, imagining Hermione shut up with McLaggen and Zabini.

"Well, I certainly expect you to win your first match after all the hard work!" said Slughorn. "But a little recreation never hurt anybody. Now, how about Monday night, you can't possibly want to practice in this weather..."

"I can't, Professor, I've got—er—an appointment with Professor Dumbledore that evening."

"Unlucky again!" cried Slughorn dramatically. "Ah, well...you can't evade me forever, Harry!"

And with a regal wave, he waddled out of the shop, taking as little notice of Ron as though he had been a display of Cockroach Clusters.

"I hate you," said Levina to Harry. "Every time I go to one of them, I can't escape McLaggen! He watches me like a hawk the entire time…It's really creepy."

"I can't believe you've wriggled out of another one," said Hermione, shaking her head. "They're not that bad, you know...they're even quite fun sometimes..." But then she caught sight of Ron's expression. "Oh, look—they've got Deluxe Sugar Quills—those would last hours!"

Glad that Hermione had changed the subject, Levina showed much more interest in the new extra-large Sugar Quills than she would normally have done, but Ron continued to look moody and merely shrugged when Hermione asked him where he wanted to go next.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," said Harry. "It'll be warm."

"And we can have Butterbeer!" said Levina, grinning. In her bag, she'd already stocked up on box after box of coconut ice, a bag of crystallized pineapple, chocolate cauldrons, and other items.

They bundled their scarves back over their faces and left the sweetshop. The bitter wind was like knives on their faces after the sugary warmth of Honeydukes, and Levina felt like they were back under the Invisibility Cloak, as the three of them huddled back against her. The street was not very busy; nobody was lingering to chat, just hurrying toward their destinations. The exceptions were two men a little ahead of them, standing just outside the Three Broomsticks. One was very tall and thin; squinting over at them, Levina recognized the barman who worked in the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog's Head. As Harry, Levina, Ron, and Hermione drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms. They were barely feet from him when Levina realized who the man was.

"Mundungus!"

The squat, bandy-legged man with long, straggly, ginger hair jumped and dropped an ancient suitcase, which burst open, releasing what looked like the entire contents of a junk shop window.

"Oh, 'ello, 'Arry," said Mundungus Fletcher, with a most unconvincing stab at airiness. "'Ello, Levina. Well, don't let me keep ya."

And he began scrabbling on the ground to retrieve the contents of his suitcase with every appearance of a man eager to be gone.

"Do you need help?" said Levina, bending down to pick up one of the fallen objects.

"No!" said Mundungus, swiping the item away from her. Levina's eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing, anyway?"

"Are you selling this stuff?" asked Harry, as Mundungus grabbed an assortment of grubby-looking objects from the ground.

"Oh, well, gotta scrape a living," said Mundungus. "Gimme that!"

Ron had stooped down and picked up something silver.

"Hang on," Ron said slowly. "This looks familiar—"

"Thank you!" said Mundungus, snatching the goblet out of Ron's hand and stuffing it back into the case. "Well, I'll see you all—OUCH!"

Harry had pinned Mundungus against the wall of the pub by the throat. Holding him fast with one hand, he pulled out his wand.

"Harry!" squealed Hermione, and Levina drew her own wand.

"You took that from Sinus's house," said Harry, who was almost nose to nose with Mundungus and was breathing in an unpleasant smell of old tobacco and spirits. "That had the Black family crest on it."

"I—no-what—?" spluttered Mundungus, who was slowly turning purple.

"What did you do, go back the night he died and strip the place?" snarled Harry.

"I—no—"

"Yes, you did!" said Levina angrily, bending down to pick up one of the objects on the ground. "I recognize this from his kitchen!"

"Give it to me!"

"Harry, you mustn't!" shrieked Hermione, as Mundungus started to turn blue.

There was a bang, and Harry's hands flew off Mundungus's throat. Gasping and spluttering, Mundungus seized his fallen case, as Levina ran forward to grab the scruff of his shirt, then—CRACK—he Disapparated.

Harry swore at the top of his voice, spinning on the spot to see where Mundungus had gone.

"COME BACK, YOU THIEVING—!"

"There's no point, Harry." Tonks had appeared out of nowhere, her mousy hair wet with sleet. "Mundungus will probably be in London by now. There's no point yelling."

"He's nicked Sirius's stuff! Nicked it!"

"Yes, but still," said Tonks, who seemed perfectly untroubled by this piece of information. "You should get out of the cold."

She watched them go through the door of the Three Broomsticks. The moment he was inside, Harry burst out, "He was nicking Sirius's stuff!"

"I know, Harry, but please don't shout, people are staring," whispered Hermione. "Go and sit down, I'll get you a drink."

When they found a table and sat down, Levina placed the object she'd picked up onto the wooden surface; it was a silvery goblet with the Black family crest engraved into it, and it looked very delicate and carefully crafted. She handed it to Harry, who was still fuming.

"Thanks," he muttered, clenching the goblet in his hand. He didn't speak again until Hermione returned with their Butterbeers.

"Can't the Order control Mundungus?" Harry demanded of the other three in a furious whisper. "Can't they at least stop him stealing everything that's not fixed down when he's at headquarters?"

"Shh!" said Hermione desperately, looking around to make sure nobody was listening; there were a couple of warlocks sitting close by who were staring at Harry with great interest, and Zabini was lolling against a pillar not far away. "Harry, I'd be annoyed too, I know it's your things he's stealing—"

Harry gagged on his Butterbeer.

"Yeah, it's my stuff!" he said. "No wonder he wasn't pleased to see me! Well, I'm going to tell Dumbledore what's going on, he's the only one who scares Mundungus."

"Good idea," whispered Hermione, clearly pleased that Harry was calming down.

"Or you could just let me deal with him," Levina offered. "I could, like, go all Werewolf and scare him into giving all your stuff back."

"Ron, what are you staring at?" said Hermione suddenly.

"Nothing," said Ron, hastily looking away from the bar, but Levina knew he was trying to catch the eye of the curvy and attractive barmaid, Madam Rosmerta, for whom he had long nursed a soft spot.

"I expect 'nothing's' in the back getting more firewhisky," said Hermione waspishly, and Levina smirked.

Ron ignored this jibe, sipping his drink in what he evidently considered to be a dignified silence. Levina was thinking about Sirius, and how he had hated those silver goblets anyway, though she was glad she'd been able to recover at least one of them. Hermione drummed her fingers on the table, her eyes flickering between Ron and the bar. The moment Harry drained the last drops in his bottle she said, "Shall we call it a day and go back to school, then?"

The other two nodded; it had not been a fun trip and the weather was getting worse the longer they stayed. Once again they drew their cloaks tightly around them, rearranged their scarves, pulled on their gloves, then followed Katie Bell and a friend out of the pub and back up the High Street. Levina thought of how Ginny had never met up with them, since she was probably snogging Dean in Madame Puddifoot's, where all the couples went…including Fred and Levina. She shook her head quickly to get rid of the thought, spraying the others with snow that had been in her hair.

It was a little while before Levina became aware that the voices of Katie Bell and her friend, which were being carried back to her easily with her canine ears, had become shriller and louder. She squinted at their indistinct figures. The two girls were having an argument about something Katie was holding in her hand.

"It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!" Levin heard Katie say.

They rounded a corner in the lane, sleet coming thick and fast, blurring Levina's vision. Just as she raised a gloved hand to wipe her eyes, Leanne made to grab hold of the package Katie was holding; Katie tugged it back and the package fell to the ground.

At once, Katie rose into the air, not as Ron had done, suspended comically by the ankle, but gracefully, her arms outstretched, as though she was about to fly. Yet there was something wrong, something eerie...Her hair was whipped around her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was quite empty of expression. Harry, Ron, Levina, Hermione, and Leanne had all halted in their tracks, watching.

Then, six feet above the ground, Katie let out a terrible scream. Her eyes flew open but whatever she could see, or whatever she was feeling, was clearly causing her terrible anguish. She screamed and screamed; Leanne started to scream too and seized Katie's ankles, trying to tug her back to the ground. Horrified, Harry, Ron, Levina, and Hermione rushed forward to help, but even as they grabbed Katie's legs, she fell on top of them; Harry and Ron managed to catch her but she was writhing so much they could hardly hold her. Instead they lowered her to the ground where she thrashed and screamed, apparently unable to recognize any of them.

Levina looked around; the landscape seemed deserted.

"Stay there!" Harry shouted at the others over the howling wind. "I'm going for help!"

"It's all right, calm down!" said Levina, attempting to try and sooth Katie, but she was too frightened herself by the girl's anguish to keep a clear mind. "It's me, Levina—your friend?"

But Katie continued to writhe and scream on the ground in horror, and Leanne began sobbing into her gloved hands. Terrified, Levina looked desperately around for someone to help; coming up the pathway, in the heavily falling snow, there was a hooded figure.

"_Help us!" _she shouted frantically to the person, who, after a moment of bewilderment, ran to their aid, pulling their hood down so Levina could see their face. It was Eternity.

"What—?" she said, her eyes wide. "What's happened? Why's she screaming?"

"She—she—" spluttered Leanne, who was crying hard now and unable to make words over Katie's horrible shrieks.

"I was hoping you were a teacher," said Levina to Eternity as she shook Katie's side, attempting to awake her from whatever horror she was witnessing. Ron, Hermione, and Leanne were all trying to quiet her, using soft voices, but nothing was working.

At that moment, Harry returned with a huge, tall figure that, upon closer examination, was Hagrid.

"Get back!" shouted Hagrid. "Lemme see her!"

"Something's happened to her!" sobbed Leanne. "I don't know what—"

Hagrid stared at Katie for a second, then without a word, bent down, scooped her into his arms, and ran off toward the castle with her. Within seconds, Katie's piercing screams had died away and the only sound was the roar of the wind.

Hermione hurried over to Katie's wailing friend and put an arm around her.

"It's Leanne, isn't it?"

The girl nodded.

"Did it just happen all of a sudden, or—?"

"It was when that package tore," sobbed Leanne, pointing at the now sodden brown-paper package on the ground, which had split open to reveal a greenish glitter. Ron bent down, his hand outstretched, but Harry seized his arm and pulled him back.

"Don't touch it!"

"It's obviously dangerous," said Levina, crouching down to take a better look at it.

An ornate opal necklace was visible, poking out of the paper. Beside Levina, Eternity's eyes widened even more at the sight of it.

"I've seen that before," said Harry, staring at the thing. "It was on display in Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. Katie must have touched it." He looked up at Leanne, who had started to shake uncontrollably. "How did Katie get hold of this?"

"Well, that's why we were arguing. She came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it...Oh no, oh no, I bet she'd been Imperiused and I didn't realize!"

Leanne shook with renewed sobs. Hermione patted her shoulder gently, but Levina was more interested in Eternity, who wore a strange expression on her face that she couldn't decipher.

"She didn't say who'd given it to her, Leanne?"

"No...she wouldn't tell me...and I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she just wouldn't listen and...and then I tried to grab it from her...and—and—"

Leanne let out a wail of despair.

"We'd better get up to school," said Hermione, her arm still around Leanne. "We'll be able to find out how she is. Come on..."

Harry hesitated for a moment, then pulled his scarf from around his face and, ignoring Ron's gasp, carefully covered the necklace in it and picked it up. Eternity recoiled away from it, and Levina backed up a step.

"We'll need to show this to Madam Pomfrey," he said.

As they followed Hermione and Leanne up the road, Levina was thinking furiously. _Who would do something like this? _She thought to herself. _And…who was she delivering the necklace to? Surely they knew it was jinxed…_They had just entered the grounds when Harry spoke, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer.

Eternity was unusually quiet, which was saying something, since she didn't ever say much to begin with.

"You all right?" Levina asked her.

"I…yeah, I…" she was staring down at the package in Harry's hand. "I just thought…no…"

"What?" said Levina immediately. "Did you see something? Were you there when it happened?"

Eternity shook her head.

"Then…do you know who did it?"

Eternity flinched again. "I…well, I thought it might be—no, it's stupid...It can't have been him—"

"'Him'?" repeated Levina. "Him who?"

"Malfoy?" said Harry suddenly, breaking into their conversation. He was staring at Eternity with a look that implied she was guilty. "You're a Slytherin. Did you hear him say something?"

Eternity looked both frightened and uncertain. "The Malfoy boy? N—no, I didn't—he didn't—"

"Malfoy knows about this necklace," said Harry. "It was in a case at Borgin and Burkes four years ago, I saw him having a good look at it while I was hiding from him and his dad. This is what he was buying that day when we followed him! He remembered it and he went back for it!"

Eternity stared at him, bemused. "You…wait, what?"

"I—I dunno, Harry," said Ron hesitantly. "Loads of people go to Borgin and Burke…and didn't that girl say Katie got it in the girls' bathroom?"

"She said she came back from the bathroom with it, she didn't necessarily get it in the bathroom itself—"

"McGonagall!" said Ron warningly.

Levina looked up. Sure enough, Professor McGonagall was hurrying down the stone steps through swirling sleet to meet them.

"Hagrid says you four saw what happened to Katie Bell—upstairs to my office at once, please! What's that you're holding, Potter?"

"It's the thing she touched," said Harry.

"Good Lord," said Professor McGonagall, looking alarmed as she took the necklace from Harry. "No, no, Filch, they're with me!" she added hastily, as Filch came shuffling eagerly across the entrance hall holding his Secrecy Sensor aloft. "Take this necklace to Professor Snape at once, but be sure not to touch it, keep it wrapped in the scarf!"

Levina and the others followed Professor McGonagall upstairs and into her office. The sleet-spattered windows were rattling in their frames, and the room was chilly despite the fire crackling in the grate. Professor McGonagall closed the door and swept around her desk to face Harry, Levina, Eternity, Ron, Hermione, and the still sobbing Leanne.

"Well?" she said sharply. "What happened?"

Haltingly, and with many pauses while she attempted to control her crying, Leanne told Professor McGonagall how Katie had gone to the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks and returned holding the unmarked package, how Katie had seemed a little odd, and how they had argued about the advisability of agreeing to deliver unknown objects, the argument culminating in the tussle over the parcel, which tore open. At this point, Leanne was so overcome, there was no getting another word out of her. In the corner, Eternity said nothing.

"All right," said Professor McGonagall, not unkindly, "go up to the hospital wing, please, Leanne, and get Madam Pomfrey to give you something for shock."

When she had left the room, Professor McGonagall turned back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What happened when Katie touched the necklace?"

"She rose up in the air," said Harry, before either Ron or Hermione could speak, "and then began to scream, and collapsed. Professor, can I see Professor Dumbledore, please?"

"The Headmaster is away until Monday, Potter," said Professor McGonagall, looking surprised.

"Away?" Harry repeated angrily.

"Yes, Potter, away!" said Professor McGonagall tartly. "But anything you have to say about this horrible business can be said to me, I'm sure!"

Levina had a sickening feeling she knew exactly what Harry was about to say; he hesitated for a moment, looking uncertain, then spoke.

"I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace, Professor."

On one side of him, Ron rubbed his nose in apparent embarrassment; on the other, Hermione shuffled her feet as though quite keen to put a bit of distance between herself and Harry. Levina stood her ground beside him, but she glanced exasperatedly in his direction.

"That is a very serious accusation, Potter," said Professor McGonagall, after a shocked pause. "Do you have any proof?"

"No," said Harry, "but..." and he told her about following Malfoy to Borgin and Burkes and the conversation they had overheard between him and Mr. Borgin.

When he had finished speaking, Professor McGonagall looked slightly confused.

"Malfoy took something to Borgin and Burkes for repair?"

"No, Professor, he just wanted Borgin to tell him how to mend something, he didn't have it with him. But that's not the point, the thing is that he bought something at the same time, and I think it was that necklace—"

"You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a similar package?"

"No, Professor, he told Borgin to keep it in the shop for him—"

"But Harry," Hermione interrupted, "Borgin asked him if he wanted to take it with him, and Malfoy said no—"

"Because he didn't want to touch it, obviously!" said Harry angrily.

"Then, how was it delivered to him?" said Levina.

"What he actually said was, 'How would I look carrying that down the street?'" said Hermione.

"Well, he would look a bit of a prat carrying a necklace," interjected Ron, and Levina smirked.

"Oh, Ron," said Hermione despairingly, "it would be all wrapped up, so he wouldn't have to touch it, and quite easy to hide inside a cloak, so nobody would see it! I think whatever he reserved at Borgin and Burkes was noisy or bulky, something he knew would draw attention to him if he carried it down the street-and in any case," she pressed on loudly, before Harry could interrupt, "I asked Borgin about the necklace, don't you remember? When I went in to try and find out what Malfoy had asked him to keep, I saw it there. And Borgin just told me the price, he didn't say it was already sold or anything -"

"Well, you were being really obvious, he realized what you were up to within about five seconds, of course he wasn't going to tell you-anyway, Malfoy could've sent off for it since -"

"That's enough!" said Professor McGonagall, as Hermione opened her mouth to retort, looking furious. "Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame at Mr. Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where this necklace might have been purchased. The same is probably true of hundreds of people—"

"—that's what I said—" muttered Ron.

"- and in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year. I do not believe that necklace can possibly have entered this school without our knowledge -"

"But—"

"—and what is more," said Professor McGonagall, with an air of awful finality, "Mr. Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today."

Harry gaped at her, deflating, and Levina sincerely hoped internally that Harry would finally give up.

"How do you know, Professor?"

"Because he was doing detention with me. He has now failed to complete his Transfiguration homework twice in a row. So, thank you for telling me your suspicions, Potter," she said as she marched past them, "but I need to go up to the hospital wing now to check on Katie Bell. Good day to you all."

"But—but what about her?" Harry demanded, pointing accusingly in Eternity's direction.

"What _about _me?" said Eternity icily.

"You were acting like you knew what had happened," said Harry. "You kept spluttering—"

"I was confused," said Eternity defensively, "and scared. Weren't you?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Enough!" said Professor McGonagall sharply. "I won't have you going around accusing people, Mr. Potter."

She held open her office door. They had no choice but to file past her without another word.

Harry was clearly angry with the other three for siding with McGonagall, for he remained silent for a while, until he appeared unable to take it any longer.

"You're a Slytherin," he said, looking desperately at Eternity. "You must know _something_."

"I don't go along with those gits' plans," said Eternity coldly. And with that, she turned away from them and headed downstairs, towards the Slytherin common room.

"So who do you reckon Katie was supposed to give the necklace to?" asked Ron, as they climbed the stairs to the common room.

"Goodness only knows," said Hermione. "But whoever it was has had a narrow escape. No one could have opened that package without touching the necklace."

"Whoever it was for, I doubt they'd be stupid enough to take it, anyway," said Levina. "I mean, come on, it was pretty obvious that something was wrong with Katie…I know _I _wouldn't take it if she offered it to me."

"It could've been meant for loads of people," said Harry. "Dumbledore—the Death Eaters would love to get rid of him, he must be one of their top targets. Or Slughorn—Dumbledore reckons Voldemort really wanted him and they can't be pleased that he's sided with Dumbledore. Or—"

"Or you," said Hermione, looking troubled.

"Couldn't have been," said Harry, "or Katie would've just turned around in the lane and given it to me, wouldn't she? I was behind her all the way out of the Three Broomsticks. It would have made much more sense to deliver the parcel outside Hogwarts, what with Filch searching everyone who goes in and out. I wonder why Malfoy told her to take it into the castle?"

"Harry, Malfoy wasn't in Hogsmeade!" said Hermione, actually stamping her foot in frustration.

"He was serving detention!" said Levina hotly.

"He must have used an accomplice, then," said Harry. "Crabbe or Goyle—or, come to think of it, another Death Eater, he'll have loads better cronies than Crabbe and Goyle now he's joined up—"

Ron, Levina, and Hermione exchanged looks that plainly said, "There's no point arguing with him."

"Dilligrout," said Hermione firmly as they reached the Fat Lady.

The portrait swung open to admit them to the common room. It was quite full and smelled of damp clothing; many people seemed to have returned from Hogsmeade early because of the bad weather. There was no buzz of fear or speculation, however: clearly, the news of Katie's fate had not yet spread.

"It wasn't a very slick attack, really, when you stop and think about it," said Ron, casually turfing a first year out of one of the good armchairs by the fire so that he could sit down. "The curse didn't even make it into the castle. Not what you'd call foolproof."

"You're right," said Hermione, prodding Ron out of the chair with her foot and offering it to the first year again. "It wasn't very well thought-out at all."

"Clearly the person wasn't thinking straight when they did it," said Levina.

"But since when has Malfoy been one of the world's great thinkers?" asked Harry.

None of them answered him, but Levina had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that repeatedly begged the question: What if it _was _somehow Draco?

* * *

><p><strong>I like tacos(:<strong>

**'Ello, Muggles; enjoy this chapter? Leave a review, I promise your computer won't spontaneously combust if you like the review button! **

**Yes, I'm in a bit of a hyper mood. How could you tell? **

**Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible (If my homework doesn't eat me first).**

**Things to come: Slug Club invites, tensions, and more! **


	7. Stop messing with my head!

**'Sup, guys?**

**Disclaimer: So where have my loyal fans been these days? I was beginning to think you all gave up on me, so I got this chapter up as soon as I could! (: Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter, so...yeah.**

* * *

><p>Katie was removed to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries the following day, by which time the news that she had been cursed had spread all over the school, though the details were confused and nobody other than Harry, Ron, Levina, Eternity, Hermione, and Leanne seemed to know that Katie herself had not been the intended target.<p>

"Oh, and Malfoy knows, of course," said Harry to Ron, Levina, and Hermione, who continued their new policy of feigning deafness whenever Harry mentioned his Malfoy-Is-a-Death-Eater theory. "And I'm sure your Slytherin 'friend' knows something, too," he added to Levina, who sighed, annoyed.

"Look, just lay off her, okay? Yes, she's a Slytherin, but that doesn't automatically mean she had anything to do with it."

"I don't trust her," said Harry flatly.

"Although I don't agree with his accusations towards her," said Hermione, "Harry is right about one thing: You should really be watching your back around her."

"Right, because that thought has _never _crossed my mind before," said Levina sarcastically.

That night, while Harry left for his lesson with Dumbledore, Levina made her way up the staircase slowly to Slughorn's party. She wasn't looking forward to it, and she loitered for a while in the corridors nearby, until Mrs. Norris spotted her and she was forced to enter the room, fearful of being caught by Filch.

Inside, Slughorn and all of his "Slug Club" students were gathered around a table, drinking Butterbeers and eating some sort of pastries. It was clear Levina was late, for almost every head turned in her direction when she slipped in.

"Oho! Levina!" said Slughorn, approaching her merrily. "For a moment, I thought you weren't going to show up!"

"I…had to finish some work before coming here," Levina lied.

"Well, never mind that now! Come, come and join us! You're just in time for a surprise."

_Good or bad? _Levina thought numbly as she found Hermione among the crowd. "Hi."

"Where have you been?" Hermione hissed, looking hassled.

"Walking," said Levina, shrugging. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not really; he's been mostly talking to McLaggen and Zabini," said Hermione. "Want a chocolate cauldron?"

"Sure, why not?" said Levina, reaching for one. As she leaned in to take it, she became all too aware of a pair of eyes watching her from across the table. Annoyed, she brought her gaze up to look back at McLaggen, hoping her expression was lined with enough malice.

"Take a picture; it'll last longer," she hissed.

McLaggen flinched; apparently he hadn't expected her to actually say anything, let alone even acknowledge his stare, as usual. "What…a picture?" he repeated, bemused.

"Er…never mind," said Levina, shaking her head, although Hermione was stifling a small laugh. "Muggle thing," she added in a mumble.

"Gather 'round, gather 'round!" called Slughorn suddenly, gesturing for them to come closer. Once everyone in the room had crowded around him, he said, "Now, for the surprise you've all been waiting for. Let me introduce the one, the only, Gwenog Jones, Captain and Beater of the welsh, all-female Quidditch team, the Holyhead Harpies!"

Levina jerked her head upright instantly; she'd been expecting something really anticlimactic, as usual, but at the word "Beater," she became suddenly more alert. A tall witch with dark skin and long brown hair stepped out from behind the purple drapes in the corner, beaming. She was fairly burly, the typical Beater's build.

"She gives me free tickets to the games whenever I want!" said Slughorn, delighted. "And I'm sure a few people in here would love to talk with you," he added, shooting Levina a significant look. She immediately darted over to where Gwenog was standing, waving to them, and shook her hand.

"Hello," said Gwenog, smiling pleasantly as she roughly shook Levina's hand back. "I'm Jones, Gwenog Jones."

"Right," said Levina, beaming up at her, "and I'm—"

"Oh! I know how you are," said Gwenog suddenly, drawing one hand up to her lips in awe. _"Levina Snowpetal?"_

Not that many years ago, Levina normally would have rolled her eyes or made some sarcastic remark, but now? It seemed rare that she ever got praised or recognized for who she was. It used to annoy her a lot, considering all the unwanted attention, but now that the "Chosen One" had made the headline of every newspaper, she was just another semi-famous witch that people would probably forget about sooner or later. It felt good, Levina thought, to know there were still people out there who knew who she was.

"Yes, that's me," said Levina.

"Wow!" said Gwenog. "This is brilliant! I heard about you a long time ago, but I never thought we'd actually meet!"

"Same here," said Levina, flushing red. "You're a Beater, right? So, would you be willing to share any of your secrets, Beater-to-Beater?"

"Oh, right!" said Gwenog. "I forgot you're a Beater; well, I'm sure I have a few tips to give you…"

For nearly the rest of the time, to the dismay of some of the other students, Levina and Gwenog continued to discuss Quidditch, and Levina learned more about how to equally balance the weight in a bat when swinging it, to hit a Bludger with just the right amount of force. When the end of the party finally came, Levina held out her book bag to Gwenog, who signed it in black ink on the side before taking her leave.

The following morning, Levina didn't hear a word from Harry about his lesson with Dumbledore during breakfast, apparently for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch toward the greenhouses for Herbology. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse.

"Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who," said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed this term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves.

"I think someone should use a Time-Turner to go back in time and kill him," said Levina.

"I told you, there _are _no more Time-Turners," said Hermione reasonably. "And besides, he was just a kid."

"When we rescued Buckbeak, we should have gone back a few more years," said Levina, waving away Hermione's comment. "We could go back to when he was a teenager."

"But I still don't get why Dumbledore's showing you all this," said Ron. "I mean, it's really interesting and everything, but what's the point?"

"Dunno," said Harry, inserting a gum shield. "But he says it's all important and it'll help me survive."

"I think it's fascinating," said Hermione earnestly. "It makes absolute sense to know as much about Voldemort as possible. How else will you find out his weaknesses?"

"So how was Slughorn's latest party?" Harry asked her thickly through the gum shield.

"Oh, it was quite fun, really," said Hermione, now putting on protective goggles. "Even if Levina didn't show up in the beginning," she added, shooting Levina an irritated look. "I mean, he drones on about famous exploits a bit, and he absolutely fawns on McLaggen because he's so well connected, but he gave us some really nice food and he introduced us to Gwenog Jones."

"And, of course, McLaggen was his usual annoying self—" Levina began, but Ron interrupted her.

"Gwenog Jones?" he said, his eyes widening under his own goggles_. "The _Gwenog Jones? Captain of the Holyhead Harpies?"

"That's right," said Hermione. "Personally, I thought she was a bit full of herself, but—"

"She wasn't that full of herself," said Levina to Hermione, frowning. "She was really nice to me, and she even shared some of her Beaters' tips with me—"

"Quite enough chat over here!" said Professor Sprout briskly, bustling over and looking stern. "You're lagging behind, everybody else has started, and Neville's already got his first pod!"

They looked around; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit.

"Okay, Professor, we're starting now!" said Ron, adding quietly, when she had turned away again, "Should've used Muffliato, Harry."

"No, we shouldn't!" said Hermione at once, looking, as she always did, intensely cross at the thought of the Half-Blood Prince and his spells. "Well, come on…we'd better get going..."

She gave the other three an apprehensive look; they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them.

It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble-like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair, and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs, while a second whapped Levina upside the head leaving a small trail of blood behind; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle-like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry, Levina, and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again, and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside, and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood.

"You know, I don't think I'll be having any of these in my garden when I've got my own place," said Ron, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead and wiping sweat from his face, and Levina snorted.

"Yeah, when I have my own place," said Levina, reaching up to wipe the blood from her forehead, but instead smearing it worse, "I don't think Lilypad and Fred would get along very well with a deadly chunk of wood…"

"'Fred'?" repeated Ron, suddenly aghast. "You two aren't planning to—to _live _together, are you?"

"What? No!" said Levina, dropping her hand from her forehead at once. "I meant Fred, my Pygmy Puff! Don't just jump to conclusions!"

Ron looked slightly ashamed with himself, but also relieved, and Levina rolled her eyes and returned to the plant.

"Pass me a bowl," said Hermione, holding the pulsating pod at arm's length; Harry handed one over and she dropped the pod into it with a look of disgust on her face.

"Don't be squeamish, squeeze it out, they're best when they're fresh!" called Professor Sprout.

"Anyway," said Hermione, continuing their interrupted conversation as though a lump of wood had not just attacked them, "Slughorn's going to have a Christmas party, Harry, and there's no way you'll be able to wriggle out of this one because he actually asked me to check your free evenings, so he could be sure to have it on a night you can come."

Harry groaned. Meanwhile, Ron, who was attempting to burst the pod in the bowl by putting both hands on it, standing up, and squashing it as hard as he could, said angrily, "And this is another party just for Slughorn's favorites, is it?"

"Just for the Slug Club, yes," said Hermione.

"Not our fault," Levina added hastily.

The pod flew out from under Ron's fingers and hit the green house glass, rebounding onto the back of Professor Sprout's head and knocking off her old, patched hat. Harry went to retrieve the pod, and Ron said, "Sounds stupid anyway. What kind of name is 'Slug Club'?"

"Look, I didn't make up the name 'Slug Club'—"

"'Slug Club,'" repeated Ron with a sneer worthy of Draco Malfoy. "It's pathetic. Well, I hope you two enjoy your party. Why don't you try hooking up with McLaggen, then Slughorn can make you King and Queen Slug—"

"Shut up!" said Levina sharply. "Neither of us want to go with that pig!"

"We're allowed to bring guests," said Hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, "and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid then I won't bother!"

Levina turned her head to look at the pair of them, her eyebrows raised in slight surprise.

"You were going to ask me?" asked Ron, in a completely different voice.

"Yes," said Hermione angrily. "But obviously if you'd rather I hooked up with McLaggen..."

There was a pause while began to pound the resilient pod with a trowel. Levina leaned in to help, taking a whack at the pod with her own fist, but nothing worked.

"No, I wouldn't," said Ron, in a very quiet voice.

Harry missed the pod, hit the bowl, and shattered it.

"Reparo," he said hastily, poking the pieces with his wand, and the bowl sprang back together again. The crash, however, appeared to have awoken Ron and Hermione to Harry's and Levina's presence. Hermione looked flustered and immediately started fussing about for her copy of Flesh-Eating Trees of the World to find out the correct way to juice Snargaluff pods; Ron, on the other hand, looked sheepish but also rather pleased with himself.

"Hand that over, Harry," said Hermione hurriedly. "It says we're supposed to puncture them with something sharp..."

Harry passed her the pod in the bowl, and Levina and Hermione reached for several sharpened tools, one of which Levina used to poke a hole in it.

It was not as though she was really surprised, thought Levina, as she wrestled with a pod; she had had an inkling that this might happen sooner or later. But she was not sure how he felt about it...She and Fred were currently going out with each other, officially as boyfriend and girlfriend, but what if Ron and Hermione started going out together, then split up? Could their friendship survive it? Levina remembered the few weeks when they had not been talking to each other in the third year; she had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distance between them. And then, what if they didn't split up? What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excruciatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that she and Harry were shut out for good? Then it would just be the two of them…

What if they were somehow divided one day? Hermione and Ron, Harry and Levina? _No, _thought Levina. _That's stupid. _Sure she and Harry had known each other for a long time, but it wasn't like she'd ever had the desire to be more than friends with him…He was more of a brother to her. Of course, now that her stupid girl hormones were kicking in more than ever, she couldn't help but have said thoughts…

"Gotcha!" yelled Ron, pulling a second pod from the stump just as Hermione managed to burst the first one open, so that the bowl was full of tubers wriggling like pale green worms.

The rest of the lesson passed without further mention of Slughorn's party. Although Levina watched her two friends more closely over the next few days, Ron and Hermione did not seem any different except that they were a little politer to each other than usual. Levina supposed she would just have to wait to see what happened under the influence of Butterbeer in Slughorn's dimly lit room on the night of the party. In the meantime, however, she had more pressing worries.

Katie Bell was still in St. Mungo's Hospital with no prospect of leaving, which meant that the promising Gryffindor team Harry had been training so carefully since September was one Chaser short. He kept putting off replacing Katie, apparently in the hope that she would return, but their opening match against Slytherin was looming, and Levina continually reminded him that he should find someone else before it was too late.

After Transfiguration one day, however, Harry cornered Dean Thomas, apparently to ask him to play, so Levina exited the classroom alone. Most of the class had already left, so the corridor was reasonably empty, with the exception of a few people.

"Hey."

Levina looked up from her canary, a bird she'd transfigured during class, to see Draco Malfoy standing near her. He was holding a stack of books and a box clutched in his hands.

"What?" said Levina, meeting his stormy grey eyes. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah," said Draco, shrugging as though it was no big deal.

"Oh. Then, um, hi?" said Levina.

Draco approached her down the hallway until they were standing side-by-side, then held the box out to her.

"What's that?" said Levina, frowning down at it, bemused.

"It's for you, Snow," said Draco, giving it a small shake so its contents rattled.

Levina eyed him warily. _Another trick, that's for sure, _she thought. Although she didn't like thinking of it, after what Harry had said about his suspicions of Draco, she couldn't help but cringe away from the box, wondering if it was an enchanted necklace that would soon kill her.

But would he go as far as to do something like that to her?

"Why're you giving something to _me_?" she demanded. "We're not even friends."

Draco's expression changed slightly, but Levina couldn't decipher which emotion it conveyed. "I don't see why that can't be changed."

Levina stared blankly at him, and the sound of books clattering to the floor could be heard. Draco stooped down to pick them up in a stack, and then offered it to her, but she remained frozen in place.

"You dropped your—" he began, but Levina cut him off.

"All right, that's it," she said. "First things first: How did you know about all of those scents in the Love Potion?"

"What?"said Draco, standing upright more. "What are you talking about?"

"Four of the things you listed," said Levina, gritting her teeth, "related to me. The fire? The lemons, the roses, and the _Pina Colada? _Any of those ringing a bell?"

"They're what I smelled in the Love Potion," said Draco, whose face was beginning to change into a pale pink color. "What's the big deal?"

"I'm around dragons, so I smell like smoke!" said Levina, actually waving her arms in the air now in annoyance, trying to stress her point. "I use a Pina Colada perfume, and I have lemon shampoo and rose-scented robes cleanser!"

Draco grew silent for a moment and froze almost as still as Levina was. Then the faint pink color on his cheeks burned into a bright red. "That's—" he began, then broke off, apparently unable to think of anything.

"What did you do, go through my stuff?" Levina snarled. "Rifle through all my perfumes and shampoos for a joke or something?"

"No!" said Draco angrily, his eyes narrowing now. "Those were just what I smelled, all right, Snow?"

Levina shook her head, infuriated even more by how truthful he sounded. "Stop calling me 'Snow'! And what do you mean by 'I don't see why that can't be changed'? Are you trying to say you _want _to be friends with a filthy, Gryffindor, _blood-traitor?"_

For a moment, Draco didn't answer; he merely continued to stare back at her with his darkening grey eyes, until he seemed able to get a hold of his thoughts. "Yes."

Levina dropped her hands to her sides, deflated. What was going on? Draco Malfoy, Slytherin pureblood and hated rival since they first met on the train in their first year, wanted to be Levina's _friend? _No. There had to be some sort of mistake—was he Confunded? No…he didn't look confused. Was he pulling her leg? He looked too sincere to be…_Then what…?_

"You're mad," said Levina, shaking her head. "What possible reason could you have for—?"

"Look," said Draco, more persistently shoving the books in her direction until she took them back into her hands, "you're a Gryffindor, yes, and I'm a Slytherin; we've gotten that much sorted out. But why do we have to dislike each other and act like rivals when we're just talking casually in the hallway?"

Levina opened her mouth to object, but nothing came out; he made a good point: If she and Eternity were friends, just not around the other Slytherins, why couldn't they be? "But—but you've hated me since the day we met! How can I trust that you've suddenly, out of the blue, just decided randomly to change?"

"I never hated you," said Draco, a little surprised. "I didn't like you, but who ever said I hated you?"

_Another _good point. Levina was beginning to become annoyed by how he turned all of her words against her. "Okay, so you don't like me; that still doesn't answer my other question."

Draco sighed. "Fine. If you're _really_ so opposed to this idea, then I don't care. We'll just continue to butt heads for the rest of our lives."

A little taken aback and slightly hurt by his words, Levina found herself stammering. "I—I didn't mean it like—I wasn't trying to—it's not fair!" she shouted, sounding, in spite of herself, very child-like. "You're constantly confusing me, one day acting like an ass, and then the next day, bringing me towels and blankets and crap! How am I _supposed _to react to someone as bi-polar as you?"

Draco sucked in a deep breath, sending his pale blond hair askew. "Look. I'm…_sorry,"_ he said, the word sounding very strained, as though it pained him to speak it, "okay?"

_And yet again, Draco Malfoy, of Slytherin House, has managed to make Levina Snowpetal, of Gryffindor House, sound like a total and complete, utter jerk, _thought Levina to herself. "I…well…_okay_," she said, clenching the books tightly in her hands. "All right. _Just _because you apologized, and that means a lot to me coming from you…We're friends."

At her words, Draco's grey eyes seemed to almost…brighten. Was it even possible for him to be happy about something other than making the Gryffindors feel like idiots? First Eternity, now Draco. What was _going on? _Were all of the Slytherins suddenly afflicted by some sort of jinx that made them actually _like _Levina?

_Well…except for Pansy, that is, _Levina thought to herself. _I don't think even an imperius curse could make her want to be my friend._

"Good. But that only applies for when the Slytherins aren't around, okay?" said Draco, looking over his shoulder even as he said it.

"And the Gryffindors," said Levina. Her head felt fuzzy; the idea of her and Draco Malfoy being friends made her head spin in confusion, as if it wasn't sure how to register the thought.

Draco nodded. Then he held out the box to her for a second time. "My parents sent me this and some other stuff this morning, but I don't really want it…If you don't want it either, then give it to someone else."

Levina hesitated a moment before taking it from him; it was a cardboard box, slightly opened on the side, as he had apparently looked at the contents beforehand.

"Well…see you around, then," said Draco, tossing his bag over his shoulder. He turned on his heel and walked off in the opposite direction, vanishing from sight around the corner.

Levina cautiously tugged at the box seal, peeling it back so she could examine what was within the box. To her utter surprise, when she pulled out the object inside, it was…Pink Coconut Ice. Her favorite candy.

….

Levina decided to keep her "deal" with Draco private, even from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She could already see their reactions to her words: Ron would stare at her in confusion, Harry would go on about how Draco was just trying to use her in his plan to do…whatever Harry thought he was doing, and Hermione would remind her that Slytherins could never be trusted.

Of course, she was just _dying _to tell at least someone about their conversation; the fact that Draco had given her Pink Coconut Ice made her further question his intentions, for if it was a prank, then it was a really good one. It wasn't exactly a secret that Levina loved the sweet pink candy, but it was always something that Fred, her close friends, or one of her family members would get for her…Was it just coincidence that the Slytherin boy happened to give her something she favored? Or…?

Levina tried to clear her head for Quidditch practice, but it was difficult; twice she knocked away a Bludger before it could hit Harry, but she ended up sending it face-first into Dean and Ron. She even found herself accidently slamming into the bleachers on various occasions. _I must look like a complete spaz to the other Beaters, _she thought miserably as she re-mounted her broom for the third time. The second and third Beaters, Peakes and Coote, were getting better all the time, and when Levina wasn't distracted they made a fairly decent trio, but they in no way compared to the team that she, Fred, and George used to be.

The main problem during Quidditch practice wasn't Levina, however; it was Ron.

Levina had known all along that Ron was an inconsistent player who suffered from nerves and a lack of confidence, and unfortunately, the looming prospect of the opening game of the season seemed to have brought out all his old insecurities. Levina knew Harry had mostly only taken him in because he disliked McLaggen, and because Ron was their friend, but she wondered if they'd made the right decision…

After letting in half a dozen goals, most of them scored by Ginny, Ron's technique became wilder and wilder, until he finally punched an oncoming Demelza Robins directly in the mouth.

"It was an accident, I'm sorry, Demelza, really sorry!" Ron shouted after her as she zigzagged back to the ground, dripping blood everywhere. "I just—"

"Panicked," Ginny said angrily, landing next to Demelza and examining her fat lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"

"It looks like the time Fred accidently gave one of the players a Nosebleed Nougat," said Levina, grinning in spite of herself at the memory.

"I can fix that," said Harry, landing beside the two girls, pointing his wand at Demelzas mouth, and saying "Episkey." "And Ginny, don't call Ron a prat, you're not the Captain of this team—"

"Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should—"

Harry hastily covered a smirk forming on his face and Levina shot Ginny a high-five when his back was turned.

"In the air, everyone, let's go..."

Overall it was one of the worst practices they had had all term, though apparently Harry did not feel that honesty was the best policy when they were this close to the match, for he continued to encourage them.

"Good work, everyone, I think we'll flatten Slytherin," he said bracingly, and the Chasers and Beaters left the changing room looking reasonably happy with themselves.

"No, you guys go on ahead," said Levina to the other two Beaters, who were waiting on her; she had to admit that they did appear to be making a lot more of an effort than her to become a good team, and she wondered if she was being too unreasonable for comparing them with Fred and George right off the bat…_No pun intended, _she thought, thinking of the Beaters' bats.

"Okay," said Coote, shrugging

"We'll catch up with you later, then," said Peakes, flashing her a smile before following Coote out the door.

"I played like a sack of dragon dung," said Ron in a hollow voice when the door had swung shut behind Ginny.

"No, you didn't," said Harry firmly. "You're the best Keeper I tried out, Ron. Your only problem is nerves."

"Yeah, besides," said Levina, coming up on his right side, "McLaggen would've done a lot worse for our team."

She and Harry kept up a relentless flow of encouragement all the way back to the castle, and by the time they reached the second floor, Ron was looking marginally more cheerful. When Levina pushed open the tapestry to take their usual shortcut up to Gryffindor Tower, however, they found themselves looking at Dean and Ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.

Levina shook her head, not altogether paying them much mind, but Harry seemed to tense beside her. She looked back at him to see that he'd frozen in place, his fists clenched slightly. _Looks like someone's a little jealous, _she thought to herself, but she knew that it wasn't the right time to tease him.

"Oi!" said Ron suddenly.

Dean and Ginny broke apart and looked around.

"What?" said Ginny.

"I don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!"

"This was a deserted corridor till you came butting in!" said Ginny.

Dean was looking embarrassed. He gave Harry a shifty grin that Harry did not return, and Levina attempted to look anywhere but at the couple.

"Er…c'mon, Ginny," said Dean, "let's go back to the common room..."

"You go!" said Ginny. "I want a word with my dear brother!"

Dean left, looking as though he was not sorry to depart the scene.

"Right," said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at Ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron—"

"Yeah, it is!" said Ron, just as angrily. "D' you think I want people saying my sister's a—"

"A what?" shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. "A what, exactly?"

"Ron, don't push her—" Levina began.

"He doesn't mean anything, Ginny—" said Harry.

"Oh yes he does!" she said, flaring up at Harry. "Just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our Auntie Muriel—"

"Shut your mouth!" bellowed Ron, bypassing red and turning maroon.

"No, I will not!" yelled Ginny, beside herself. "I've seen you with Phlegm and Levina's cousin, hoping they'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see either of them, it's pathetic! If you went out and got a bit of snogging done yourself, you wouldn't mind so much that everyone else does it!"

Ron had pulled out his wand too; Harry stepped swiftly between them, and Levina drew her own wand, sincerely hoping that things weren't about to get ugly.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at Ginny around Harry, who was now standing in front of her with his arms outstretched. "Just because I don't do it in public—!"

Ginny screamed with derisive laughter, trying to push Harry and Levina out of the way.

"Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow?"

"You—"

A streak of orange light flew under Levina's right arm and missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron up against the wall, and Levina dragged Ginny backwards.

"Don't be stupid—"

"Harry's snogged Cho Chang!" shouted Ginny, who sounded close to tears now. "And Hermione snogged Viktor Krum, and Levina's snogged Fred!"

"Hey, hey, don't bring me into this—" said Levina hastily.

"It's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron," Ginny continued, as though Levina weren't there, "and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"

And with that, she broke free from Levina and stormed away. Harry quickly let go of Ron; the look on his face was murderous. The three of them stood there, breathing heavily, until Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, appeared around the corner, which broke the tension.

"C'mon," said Harry, as the sound of Filch's shuffling feet reached their ears.

They hurried up the stairs and along a seventh-floor corridor. "Oi, out of the way!" Ron barked at a small girl who jumped in fright and dropped a bottle of toad-spawn.

"Oh, really, Ron?" said Levina as glass shattered everywhere. "Sorry," she added to the girl as they passed by.

"D'you think Hermione did snog Krum?" Ron asked abruptly, as they approached the Fat Lady. Harry started, as though awaking from a deep thought.

"What?" said Harry confusedly. "Oh...er..."

Levina knew fully aware that Hermione had indeed snogged Krum, but she said nothing. Apparently Ron didn't need an answer, however, because he merely looked at their expressions before turning away, looking sour.

"Dilligrout," he said darkly to the Fat Lady, and they climbed through the portrait hole into the common room.

As they passed through the common room, Ron shot Levina a sideways glance, and said, with a half-curious half-nervous look, "Hey…Did you and Fred ever actually snog?"

Levina's face flushed an instant bright red the color of a fresh cherry as the memories quickly flooded her mind: Fred at the Yule Ball, Fred in the pouring rain on Valentines, Fred in the corridor before leaving Hogwarts… Of course, there was no way Levina would admit any of the scenes to Ron, who already seemed broken up enough.

"That's—that's not any of your concern, Ron," she stammered sharply, and without looking back, she climbed up the girls' dormitory stairs, out of sight.

Levina lay awake for a long time, looking up at the canopy of her four-poster. She felt restless, guilty for no apparent reason, and very, very alone.

It felt almost pathetic, how much she relied on Fred's presence to make her happy. Wasn't it enough to have friends? It wasn't like he was gone forever, he was just temporarily away…She shuddered at the thought of never seeing him again, and pushed the idea out of her mind.

Eventually, she sat up and ended up scrawling a letter on a sheet of parchment, in the light of her wand. Since she couldn't talk openly to any of her three best friends, and since Fred would probably find the Draco situation unsettling too, she figured the best person to talk to about everything would be Destiny.

In her letter, she explained her empty feeling and asked if Destiny felt the same towards George being gone, told her every word she could remember from her conversation with Draco, and begged her for some sort of opinion other than a variation of the phrase "That sounds fishy."

Levina awoke next morning feeling slightly dazed and confused by a series of dreams in which Eternity and Draco had teamed up and attempted to control her with an enchanted necklace, but by midday she would have happily exchanged the dream for reality, for Ron was not only cold-shouldering Ginny and Dean, but also treating a hurt and bewildered Hermione with an icy, sneering indifference. What was more, Ron seemed to have become, overnight, as touchy and ready to lash out as the average Blast-Ended Skrewt. Levina and Harry spent the day attempting to keep the peace between Ron and Hermione with no success; finally, Hermione departed for bed in high dudgeon, and Ron stalked off to the boys' dormitory after swearing angrily at several frightened first-years for looking at him.

To Levina's dismay, Ron's new aggression did not wear off over the next few days. Worse still, it coincided with an even deeper dip in his Keeping skills, which made him still more aggressive, so that during the final Quidditch practice before Saturday's match, he failed to save every single goal the Chasers aimed at him, but bellowed at everybody so much that he reduced Demelza Robins to tears.

"You shut up and leave her alone!" shouted Peakes, who was about two-thirds Ron's height, though admittedly carrying a heavy bat.

"Ron, will you stop biting everyone's heads off?" Levina snapped at him angrily, patting Demelza reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Yeah, because you're one to talk—"hissed Ron, clearly taking a jab at Levina's anger issues.

"Don't talk to Levina like that!" Peakes growled at Ron.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Harry. "Peakes, go and pack up the Bludgers. Demelza, pull yourself together, you played really well today. Ron..." he waited until the rest of the team were out of earshot before saying it, "you're my best mate, but carry on treating the rest of them like this and I'm going to kick you off the team."

Levina looked between the two friends, frightened at how Ron might react to his words, but instead of doing something violent, Ron did something much worse: He seemed to sag on his broom, and all the fight went out of him as he said, "I resign. I'm pathetic."

"You're not pathetic and you're not resigning!" said Harry fiercely, seizing Ron by the front of his robes. "You can save anything when you're on form, it's a mental problem you've got!"

"You calling me mental?"

"'Course he's not—"

"Yeah, maybe I am!"

They glared at each other for a moment, with Levina stuck in the middle looking between them, and then Ron shook his head wearily.

"I know you haven't got any time to find another Keeper, so I'll play tomorrow, but if we lose, and we will, I'm taking myself off the team."

Breakfast was the usual excitable affair next morning; the Slytherins hissed and booed loudly as every member of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall. Levina glanced at the ceiling and saw a clear, pale blue sky: a good omen.

The Gryffindor table, a solid mass of red and gold, cheered as Harry, Levina, and Ron approached. Harry and Levina grinned and waved; Ron grimaced weakly and shook his head.

"Cheer up, Ron!" called Lavender. "I know you'll be brilliant!"

Ron ignored her.

"Tea?" Harry asked him. "Coffee? Pumpkin juice?"

"Pumpkin juice sounds good," said Levina, pouring herself a goblet-full.

"Anything," said Ron glumly, taking a moody bite of toast.

Not soon after she'd sat down, Celeste, Destiny's owl, fluttered gracefully down from the sky, dropping a pale blue envelope in her lap. She slid it open and scanned the letter's contents eagerly:

_Levina,_

_Wow, that's a lot to take in all at once! Sounds like you're having a rough time._

_For the deal with Ron, my best advice is to keep encouraging him until the whole thing blows over; I'm not exactly the best person to talk to when it comes to moody people, even if I do live with Eric (Although I think Mirela, that girl he's dating, is improving his attitude some)._

_And yes, I do sometimes feel the same way about George, but it's only natural for you to want to miss Fred; he's a good guy. Just send him, like, fifty letters a day and he's bound to reply to you eventually, job or no job to deal with. Besides, you'll see each other at Christmas, right? :)_

_As for the whole Draco thing…That's a tough one. As you said, he might be messing with you, but who knows? He may really just want to finally make things right with you; did you know Fleur and I used to not like each other? She annoyed me a great deal when I was younger until we patched things up between us. Maybe you and Draco just need to do the same. Who honestly ever said that a snake can't befriend a lion?_

_-Destiny. _

"What's that?" said Harry, looking over Levina's shoulder curiously.

"Just a letter from Destiny," said Levina, hastily stowing it away in her pocket.

"It said something about Malfoy—" said Harry.

"So?" said Levina as casually as possible. "We were just talking about him." She shrugged. "Stop being nosy."

A few minutes later Hermione, who had become so tired of Ron's recent unpleasant behavior that she had not come down to breakfast with them, paused on her way up the table.

"How are you three feeling?" she asked tentatively, her eyes on the back of Ron's head.

"Never been better," said Levina weakly as she nibbled on the end of a sliver of bacon.

"Fine," said Harry, who appeared to be concentrating on handing Ron a glass of pumpkin juice. "There you go, Ron. Drink up."

Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when Hermione spoke sharply.

"Don't drink that, Ron!"

Harry, Levina, and Ron looked up at her.

"Why not?" said Ron.

"It's just juice," said Levina, raising her eyebrows at Hermione.

Hermione was now staring at Harry as though she could not believe her eyes.

"You just put something in that drink."

"Excuse me?" said Harry.

"You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped something into Ron's drink. You've got the bottle in your hand right now!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Harry, stowing a little bottle hastily in his pocket.

"Is that—?" said Levina, staring in shock at the bottle; it had been the vial of Felix Felicis that Harry had won from Slughorn.

"Ron, I warn you, don't drink it!" Hermione said again, alarmed, but Ron picked up the glass, drained it in one gulp, and said, "Stop bossing me around, Hermione."

She looked scandalized. Bending low so that only Harry and Levina could hear her, she hissed, "You should be expelled for that. I'd never have believed it of you, Harry!"

"Look who's talking," he whispered back. "Confunded anyone lately?"

She stormed up the table away from them.

"That was bold of you, Harry," said Levina, frowning at him as Ron smacked his lips.

"Nearly time," said Harry blithely.

The frosty grass crunched underfoot as they strode down to the stadium.

"Pretty lucky the weathers this good, eh?" Harry asked Ron.

"Yeah," said Ron, who was pale and sick-looking.

"A perfect day for beating the Slytherins," said Levina, grinning. "That's what I love about Quidditch: We can intentionally hurt them without getting detention."

Ginny and Demelza were already wearing their Quidditch robes and waiting in the changing room.

"Conditions look ideal," said Ginny, ignoring Ron. "And guess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey—he took a Bludger in the head yesterday during their practice, and he's too sore to play! And even better than that—Malfoy's gone off sick too!"

"What?" said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her. "He's ill? What's wrong with him?"

"No idea, but it's great for us," said Ginny brightly. "They're playing Harper instead; he's in my year and he's an idiot."

Harry smiled back vaguely, but Levina could tell he wasn't really pleased; either he had really wanted to defeat Draco in the match, or he was thinking about his suspicions again. _It is strange, though, _she thought, frowning, _that Draco would pass up a chance to go against the Gryffindors…_

"Fishy, isn't it?" he said in an undertone to Ron. "Malfoy not playing?"

"Lucky, I call it," said Ron, looking slightly more animated. "And Vaisey off too, he's their best goal scorer, I didn't fancy—hey!" he said suddenly, freezing halfway through pulling on his Keepers gloves and staring at Harry.

"What?"

"I...you..." Ron had dropped his voice, he looked both scared and excited. "My drink...my pumpkin juice ...you didn't...?"

Harry raised his eyebrows, but said nothing except, "We'll be starting in about five minutes, you'd better get your boots on."

_Yup, he definitely put the liquid luck in his drink, _thought Levina.

They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roars and boos. One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea of green and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too: amidst all the yelling and clapping Levina could distinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion-topped hat.

Harry stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, who was standing ready to release the balls from the crate, and Levina found Peakes and Coote, who were swinging their Beaters' bats.

"'Unbeatable Beaters'?" said Peakes, looking at Levina's badge, which she was adjusting onto her robes. "What's that?"

"The old Beaters and I used to wear them," said Levina, shrugging. "It was kind of our slogan."

"We should make some of those for us, too," said Coote, looking over Peakes' shoulder at the badge.

"Right, sure," said Levina, not seeing herself as being able to form another "Unbeatable Beaters" trio.

"Captains shake hands," said Madam Hooch, and the three Beaters found their places behind Harry. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle...three...two...one..."

The whistle sounded, Levina and the others kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and they were away.

Levina soared around the perimeter of the grounds, looking around for any Bludgers nearby. She followed closely behind the other two Beaters, keeping a watchful eye on them; their plan was to split up into three directions and each follow one of the Bludgers around. With her canine hearing, she was able to pick up on the commentary fairly easily, but it sounded different from Lee Jordan's voice:

"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year. Many thought, given Ronald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help..."

These words were greeted with jeers and applause from the Slytherin end of the pitch. _Who is that? _Thought Levina, annoyed, and she craned around on her broom to look toward the commentator's podium. A tall, skinny blond buy with an upturned nose was standing there, talking into the magical megaphone that had once been Lee Jordan's; Levina recognized Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom she heartily disliked.

"Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it's Russell streaking down the pitch and—"

Levina's stomach turned over.

"—Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose..."

_Go, Ron! _ Thought Levina, grinning to herself. Just as she turned around on her broom, a Bludger shot straight past her ear. She readied her bat and took a swing at it, but at that moment, a Slytherin Chaser with red hair bolted past her, nearly dodging the Bludger.

"Eternity?" said Levina.

Eternity glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, hi, Levina!"

"_You're _the replacement Chaser?"

"Well…yeah," said Eternity. "I told you I was trying out for the team, remember?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think—" Levina began, but Eternity pointed towards the goal posts, waved to her, and rocketed away, her hair flying behind her.

_Why didn't I recognize her last name when Smith said it? _Thought Levina, feeling incredibly stupid, for Zacharias _had _said "Russell."

Bringing her mind back into the game, Levina returned to protecting the team from being hit by the Bludgers.

With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor's six goals. This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.

"Of course, Coote isn't really the usual build for a Beater," said Zacharias loftily, "they've generally got a bit more muscle—"

"Hey!" said Levina, turning sharply to glare at him.

"Hit a Bludger at him!" Harry called to Coote as he zoomed past, but Coote, grinning broadly, chose to aim the next Bludger at Harper instead, who was just passing Levina in the opposite direction. Levina was pleased to hear the dull thunk that meant the Bludger had found its mark.

"I'll do it!" Levina volunteered, and, with a sharp swing of her bat, a nearby flying Bludger shot into the stands and smacked Zacharias Smith right on the head. Harry beamed over at her and gave her a thumbs up.

It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong. Again and again they scored, and again and again, at the other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease. Levina was actually smiling now, and when the crowd greeted a particularly good save with a rousing chorus of the old favorite "Weasley Is Our King," Harry pretended to conduct them from on high.

At some point, the Gryffindors below shouted in anger; Levina looked around to see that Harper had slammed deliberately into Harry, nearly knocking him off his broom.

"That's a penalty!" Levina shouted, turning on her broom to face the pair, but Zacharias suddenly sped upwards before Madam Hooch could see them.

"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" said Zacharias Smith through his megaphone. "Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"

Harry accelerated up, but Harper was much closer to the golden, fluttering Snitch high above them. It would be too late—

"Oi, Harper!" yelled Harry, clearly in desperation. "How much did Malfoy pay you to come on instead of him?"

Harper did a double-take; he fumbled the Snitch, let it slip through his fingers, and reached to grab at it again.

_No, no, NO! _thought Levina, sincerely wishing the Snitch would at least _try _to escape instead of just sitting there in midair. _Just move!_ Suddenly, to Levina's great surprise, the Snitch took off randomly, speeding away from Harper's grip.

_What? _Thought Levina. Something wasn't right; she stared up at the Snitch, slightly dazed, and thought, _Go the other way?_

And to her utter surprise, the fluttering ball changed directions so that it was flying toward her and Harry, who made a great swipe it and caught it.

"YES!" Harry yelled: wheeling around, he hurtled back toward the ground, the Snitch held high in his hand. As the crowd realized what had happened, a great shout went up that almost drowned the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game.

Levina, however, felt a great stirring sensation in her stomach as she landed on the ground; she felt sick. Had it just been coincidence, or had she _really _just controlled the Snitch somehow?

"Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who was trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team; Levina looked in the direction he was gesturing to see Ginny speed right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator's podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring, Levina heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, "Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."

Laughing, Levina gave Harry a light kiss on the cheek and pulled him and Ron into a tight hug as, all enmity forgotten, the Gryffindor team left the pitch arm in arm, punching the air and waving to their supporters.

The atmosphere in the changing room was jubilant. "Party up in the common room, Seamus said!" yelled Dean exuberantly. "C'mon, Ginny, Demelza!"

Ron, Levina, and Harry were the last two in the changing room. They were just about to leave when Hermione entered. She was twisting her Gryffindor scarf in her hands and looked upset but determined.

"I want a word with you, Harry." She took a deep breath. "You shouldn't have done it. You heard Slughorn, it's illegal."

"What are you going to do, turn us in?" demanded Ron.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Harry, turning away to hang up his robes so that neither of them would see him grinning.

"You know perfectly well what we're talking about!" said Hermione shrilly. "You spiked Ron's juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"

"No, I didn't," said Harry, turning back to face them both.

"Okay, lying is going a bit too far, Harry," said Levina.

"Yes you did, Harry, and that's why everything went right, there were Slytherin players missing and Ron saved everything!"

"I didn't put it in!" said Harry, grinning broadly. He slipped his hand inside his jacket pocket and drew out the tiny bottle that Levina had seen in his hand that morning. It was full of golden potion and the cork was still tightly sealed with wax. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking." He looked at Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself."

He pocketed the potion again.

"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" Ron said, astounded. "But the weather's good...and Vaisey couldn't play...I honestly haven't been given lucky potion?"

Harry shook his head. Ron gaped at him for a moment, then rounded on Hermione, imitating her voice.

"You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything! See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

"I never said you couldn't—Ron, you thought you'd been given it too!"

But Ron had already strode past her out of the door with his broomstick over his shoulder.

"Er," said Harry into the sudden silence, "shall... shall we go up to the party, then?"

"You go!" said Hermione, blinking back tears. "I'm sick of Ron at the moment, I don't know what I'm supposed to have done..."

And she stormed out of the changing room too.

Levina walked slowly back up the grounds toward the castle through the crowd, many of whom shouted congratulations at her, but she caught sight of a flash of red hair passing by; Eternity was walking up the steps to the castle, her head bowed, looking rather dejected. As a group of Slytherins passed her, they gave her a rough shove, causing her to stumble, and shouted incredibly rude things. Once they had vanished up the pathway, Levina ran over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"All right?" she asked, feeling slightly guilty for no apparent reason she could think of.

"Oh…yeah, fine," said Eternity, rubbing her shoulder where one of the Slytherins have shoved her.

"You played well," said Levina, and Eternity snorted.

"Are you kidding?" she demanded. "I played _horribly; _I don't think I'm cut out for Quidditch."

Although admittedly what she said was true, Levina didn't agree with it. She merely remained silent, trying to think of something encouraging to say, but all that came out of her lips was, "Why are you so nice to me?"

Eternity turned to her with her cobalt eyes, slightly surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Slytherins are known to be…well, mean," said Levina. "And cold. And jerk-like. And cruel. And—"

"Yeah, I get it," said Eternity, looking slightly annoyed. "What's your point?"

"I just don't understand why you're a Slytherin."

Eternity's mouth twitched slightly. "I don't feel like discussing it with you," she said flatly, and the pair said nothing else to each other until they parted ways at the castle doors.

Levina could not see Hermione at the Gryffindor celebration party, which was in full swing when she arrived. Renewed cheers and clapping greeted her appearance, and she was soon surrounded by a mob of people congratulating her. She made her way through the crowd, weaving around everyone, and found Ginny, who was standing in a corner with Arnold the Pygmy Puff riding on her shoulder and Crookshanks mewing hopefully at her heels.

"Looking for Ron?" she asked, smirking. "He's over there, the filthy hypocrite."

Levina looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.

"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" said Ginny dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Levina, you're a really brilliant Beater."

"You played really well, too," said Levina, but she wasn't altogether listening, for she thought he saw a mane of bushy brown hair whipping out of sight through the portrait hole.

_Great, _thought Levina. She darted forward and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside, seemed to be deserted.

"Hermione?"

She walked down the hallway, tugging on the classroom doors as she went; most of them were locked and appeared empty. In the third one she tried, she found Hermione sitting on the teacher's desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair.

"Oh, hello, Levina," she said in a brittle voice. "I was just practicing."

"Those are really…cool," said Levina awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"Ron's a prat," said Hermione, sparing Levina from further words.

"Yeah, he is," said Levina, climbing onto the desk beside her.

Hermione made a small, whimper-like noise and Levina put her arm around her shoulders. "Shh, it's okay…"

"No, it's not!" said Hermione, wiping a stray tear off of her cheek. "You saw them, didn't you? Snogging as if no one was around?"

"What you've got to understand about Ron is that he's a moron," said Levina, conjuring up a tissue with her wand and handing it to her. "Most guys are. I mean, even Fred has his moments." That statement wasn't altogether true, but Levina knew she needed reassurance.

Hermione said nothing.

"This will pass," said Levina. "It's just a phase. I promise, it'll get better—"

At that exact moment, the door opened again and Harry entered.

"Oh—hey," he said, looking between the pair, looking out of place.

"Hi," said Levina, slightly annoyed by his interruption; she'd been hoping to cheer Hermione up on her own.

"Nice—nice birds," said Harry, gesturing to the air above them.

"Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations," said Hermione in an unnaturally high-pitched voice.

"Er...does he?" said Harry.

"Don't pretend you didn't see him," said Hermione. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was—?"

The door behind them burst open. To Levina's horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand. Now there was absolutely _no chance_of Levina being able to make Hermione feel better.

"Oh," he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harry, Levina, and Hermione.

"Oops!" said Lavender, and she backed out of the room, giggling. The door swung shut behind her.

There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, "Hi, Harry, Levina! Wondered where you'd got to!"

Hermione slid off the desk, pulling Levina's arm off of her. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system.

"You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," she said quietly. "She'll wonder where you've gone."

She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Levina glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.

"Oppugno!" came a shriek from the doorway.

Levina spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: the little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.

"Gerremoffme!" he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Levina thought she heard a sob before it slammed.

* * *

><p><strong>Whoo! Finally done with this chapter; thoughts? This took me a while to do, so I hope you all enjoyed it; feedback is always welcome!<strong>

**Things to come: Pshh, I'm not telling you! Why? Because I'm mean!**

**Review? ;)**


	8. A twist

**Happy Valentine's Day, guys! Here's a lil' present for you ;)**

**I've actually been planning this chapter for a **_**very long time, **_**so I really hope all of you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed typing it! :) **

**Disclaimer: I own Levina and any other characters that weren't originally in the Harry Potter series.**

* * *

><p>Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid had already singlehandedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees to the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armor and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately for Levina, she would just use a color-changing spell to make her transparent (much to Hermione's displeasure), so she could navigate her way past the giggling girls whenever Harry was with her.<p>

Much to her dismay, Levina had to put up with the frequent presence of Lavender Brown, who seemed to regard any moment that she was not kissing Ron as a moment wasted; and secondly, Levina found herself once more the best friend of two people who seemed unlikely ever to speak to each other again. It seemed like she mostly spent her time with Harry, and sometimes, on occasion, Peakes or Coote, who were apparently very bad at Potions and required her frequent assistance.

On the days when she hung out with just Ron, he would find any chance he could to justify his situation with Hermione, whether she was the topic of discussion or not:

"She can't complain. She snogged Krum. So she's found out someone wants to snog me too. Well, it's a free country. I haven't done anything wrong."

Levina mostly didn't answer him, but merely shrugged in his direction noncommittally.

"I never promised Hermione anything," Ron mumbled one day when they were heading upstairs to the Gryffindor tower. "I mean, all right, I was going to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with her, but she never said...just as friends...I'm a free agent—"

He broke off for a moment; Levina looked up to see what could have stopped him mid-rant to find that Draco Malfoy was passing by them in the corridor. It wasn't so much the fact that he was there that had made Ron stop talking, but the fact that Draco, to Levina's horror, turned and waved at her quickly before vanishing down a hall on the right.

"Did…did he just wave at you?" said Ron, bemused.

"He's just messing with me," said Levina through clenched teeth.

Thankfully, Ron appeared to not think much of it, and therefore returned to his tirade once more.

Hermione's schedule was so full that Levina could only talk to her properly in the evenings, when Ron was, in any case, so tightly wrapped around Lavender that he did not notice what Levina was doing. Hermione refused to sit in the common room while Ron was there, so Harry and Levina generally joined her in the library, which meant that their conversations were held in whispers.

"He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes," said Hermione, while the librarian, Madam Pince, prowled the shelves behind them. "I really couldn't care less."

She raised her quill and dotted an 'i' so ferociously that she punctured a hole in her parchment. Harry and Levina said nothing. What could she say? That she wanted the two of them to just get over it already and to make up with each other?

"And incidentally," said Hermione, after a few moments, "you need to be careful."

"For the last time," said Harry, speaking in a slightly hoarse tone after three-quarters of an hour's silence, "I am not giving back this book. I've learned more from the Half-Blood Prince than Snape or Slughorn have taught me in—"

"I'm not talking about your stupid so-called Prince," said Hermione, giving his book a nasty look as though it had been rude to her. "I'm talking about earlier. I went into the girls' bathroom just before I came in here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion. They're all hoping they're going to get you to take them to Slughorn's party, and they all seem to have bought Fred and George's love potions, which I'm afraid to say probably work—"

"Why didn't you confiscate them then?" demanded Harry, while Levina snickered to herself, busy working on potions homework.

"They didn't have the potions with them in the bathroom," said Hermione scornfully, "They were just discussing tactics. As I doubt the Half-Blood Prince," she gave the book another scornful look, "could dream up an antidote for a dozen different love potions at once, I'd just invite someone to go with you, that'll stop all the others thinking they've still got a chance. It's tomorrow night, they're getting desperate."

_Oh, right! Slughorn's party, _thought Levina, suddenly excited. "I almost forgot to tell you," she said, turning to beam up at Hermione. "I talked to Slughorn after Potions yesterday, and guess what he said?"

Hermione merely stared at her, slightly confused. "What?"

"I'm allowed to invite people from outside of school!" she said, delighted. "He said he really wanted to meet Destiny, because, you know, she's well-known and half-Siren and all that, so he said I could bring her with me."

"That's great!" said Hermione, very obviously trying to look more enthusiastic for Levina's sake.

"And what's more," said Levina, grinning mischievously, "is that I told him that if Destiny were to come, her boyfriend George would want to come along, and therefore his twin Fred would go as well," she winked, "as my date."

"Fred and George are going, too?" said Hermione.

"Yup!" said Levina brightly. "Isn't it brilliant? I'm finally going to be able to see Fred again, and I can't get in trouble with anyone because a teacher told me it was all right! He was probably drunk when I asked him, though…"

"Did you already send them letters?" said Hermione, raising her eyebrows at Levina.

"Yeah; Fred says he and George are going to just take off work that day, so they can come, and Destiny already asked her headmaster if she could go. She said yes."

"There isn't anyone I want to invite," mumbled Harry, breaking into their conversation.

"Well, just be careful what you drink, because Romilda Vane looked like she meant business." said Hermione grimly.

She hitched up the long roll of parchment on which she was writing her Arithmancy essay and continued to scratch away with her quill.

"Hang on a moment," he said slowly. "I thought Filch had banned anything bought at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

"You're only just now thinking about that?" said Levina.

"And when has anyone ever paid attention to what Filch has banned?" asked Hermione, still concentrating on her essay.

"But I thought all the owls were being searched. So how come these girls are able to bring love potions into the school?"

"Fred and George send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions," said Hermione. "It's part of their Owl Order Service."

"You know a lot about it."

Hermione gave him the kind of nasty look she had just given his copy of Advanced Potion-Making.

"It was all on the back of the bottles they showed Ginny and me in the summer," she said coldly, "I don't go around putting potions in people's drinks...or pretending to either, which is just as bad..."

"Yeah, well, never mind that," said Harry quickly. "The point is, Filch is being fooled isn't he? These girls are getting stuff into the school disguised as something else! So why couldn't Malfoy have brought the necklace into the school—?"

"Oh, _give it up_," said Levina, sighing. At this point, she was beginning to think that Harry was just flat-out wrong; sure Draco had been a prat for a long time, but after their previous conversation, she couldn't help but wonder if he really was just trying to change his ways.

"Come on, why not?" demanded Harry.

"Look," sighed Hermione, "Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses, and concealment charms, don't they? They're used to find dark magic and dark objects. They'd have picked up a powerful curse, like the one in the necklace, within seconds. But something that's just been put in the wrong bottle wouldn't register—and anyway love potions aren't dark or dangerous—"

"Easy for you to say," muttered Harry.

"—so it would be down to Filch to realize it wasn't a cough potion, and he's not a very good wizard, I doubt he can tell one potion from—"

Hermione stopped dead; Levina had heard it too. Somebody had moved close behind them among the dark bookshelves. They waited, and a moment later the vulture-like countenance of Madam Pince appeared around the corner, her sunken cheeks, her skin like parchment, and her long hooked nose illuminated unflatteringly by the lamp she was carrying.

"The library is now closed," she said, "Mind you return anything you have borrowed to the correct—what have you been doing to that book, you depraved boy?"

"It isn't the library's, it's mine!" said Harry hastily, snatching his copy of Advanced Potion-Making off the table as she lunged at it with a claw-like hand.

"Despoiled!" she hissed. "Desecrated, befouled!"

"Like you?" said Levina under her breath.

"It's just a book that's been written on!" said Harry, tugging it out of her grip.

She looked as though she might have a seizure; Hermione, who had hastily packed her things, grabbed Harry by the arm and frog marched both him and Levina away.

"She'll ban you from the library if you're not careful. Why did you have to bring that stupid book?"

"It's not my fault she's barking mad, Hermione. Or d'you think she overheard you being rude about Filch? I've always thought there might be something between them..."

"Oh, ha ha…" said Hermione sarcastically, and Levina laughed.

"Maybe he's trying to get over the fact that Umbridge is gone," said Levina, smirking, and the three of them laughed again.

Enjoying the fact that they could speak normally again, they made their way along the deserted lamp-lit corridors back to the common room, arguing whether or not Filch and Madam Pince were secretly in love with each other.

"Baubles," said Harry to the Fat Lady, this being the new, festive password.

"Same to you," said the fat lady with a roguish grin, and she swung forward to admit them.

"Hi, Harry!" said Romilda Vane, the moment he had climbed through the portrait hole. "Fancy a Gillywater?"

Hermione gave him a "What-did-I-tell-you?" look over her shoulder.

"No thanks," said Harry quickly while Levina covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing again. "I don't like it much."

"Well, take these anyway," said Romilda, thrusting a box into his hands. "Chocolate Cauldrons, they've got firewhiskey in them. My gran sent them to me, but I don't like them."

"Oh—right—thanks a lot," said Harry, who could not think what else to say. "Er—I'm just going over here with…"

He hurried off behind Hermione, his voice tailing away feebly.

"Told you," said Hermione succinctly, "Sooner you ask someone, sooner they'll all leave you alone and you can—"

But her face suddenly turned blank; she had just spotted Ron and Lavender, who were intertwined in the same armchair.

"Well, goodnight, Harry, Levina," said Hermione, though it was only seven o'clock in the evening, and she left for the girls' dormitory without another word.

Levina went to bed thinking of Hermione and Ron, wondering if they would ever make up with each other. She sighed, hoping that, after Slughorn's party, things would get better; after all, she and the others were all leaving for the Burrow after it. Maybe then she would have some time to talk to Ron one-on-one about his behavior…

The next day, they embarked upon the immensely difficult topic of human transfiguration; working in front of mirrors, they were supposed to be changing the color of their own eyebrows. Hermione laughed unkindly at Ron's disastrous first attempt, during which he somehow managed to give himself a spectacular handlebar mustache; Ron retaliated by doing a cruel but accurate impression of Hermione jumping up and down in her seat every time Professor McGonagall asked a question, which Lavender and Parvati found deeply amusing and which reduced Hermione to the verge of tears again. She raced out of the classroom on the bell, leaving half her things behind; Harry gathered up her books for her and left the room, leaving Levina behind.

Trying to not think about the situation as a whole, Levina made her way down to the floor below them. It wasn't until she was halfway down a corridor, towards a girl's bathroom, that she heard his voice behind her:

"Hey, Levina!"

Levina stopped dead in her tracks and didn't bother turning around. "Did you…did you just call me Levina?"

"Yeah," said Draco, approaching her on her right side.

"But…but you call me SnowWeed," said Levina, confused. "Or Weed. Or Snowpetal."

"What, do you see any Slytherins around?" said Draco, casting a hasty look over his shoulder.

"Wh—? Well, no," said Levina, narrowing her eyes at him. "But since when have you started calling me by my first name?"

"You call me by my first name," said Draco, shrugging, "so as long as we're friends right now, why can't I call you Levina?"

_Would you stop making good points! _Levina thought, annoyed. She was beginning to wonder just how far Draco was going to take this new "friend" thing of his. "Fine, call me what you want," she said briskly.

"Anyway," said Draco, continuing down the hall as if nothing had happened, "did you like the candies?"

"What, the Coconut Ice?" said Levina. "Yeah…I've been meaning to ask you about that; how come you knew those were my favorite candy?"

"I told you, my parents sent me a box of sweets," said Draco casually. "It's not exactly any big secret if you eat them all the time like a pig—"

"Hey!" said Levina sharply, turning to glare at him, but to her utter surprise, he started laughing.

"I was kidding," he said, putting up his hands defensively, as though afraid she might hit him.

_Laughing? Draco? _Thought Levina. She never thought she'd ever see him laughing sincerely about something that didn't have to do with tormenting the Gryffindors or abusing his Prefect privileges.

"Oh," said Levina, unable to think of any other way to respond.

"By the way, am I ever going to get my shoelace back?" he asked.

"Your shoela…? Oh, right," said Levina, remembering how Lilypad, her cat, had stolen his shoelace the previous year. "Pfft! If you think Lilypad's going to give it back, then you must be mad; I swear she's in love with it."

Draco looked slightly annoyed. "Fine, fine…She can keep it, then."

"Not like you have much of a choice," said Levina, laughing slightly in spite of herself. Here was a scene Levina never thought she'd ever see in her entire life: Draco and Levina, walking down a hall together, talking casually and laughing as though they were…normal.

"That's true," said Draco, smirking down at her.

_I could get used to this, _thought Levina, smiling. _If only I could get Pansy to suddenly start being nice to me now…_

Suddenly, Harry and Luna emerged into the hallway they were walking down, deep in conversation over something. At the sight of them, Draco immediately turned away, apparently remembering their agreement.

"So…see you around," said Draco, and he brushed past her, vanishing out of sight once again.

"Hi," said Levina, but Harry's eyes were glued to the spot where Draco had been just moments before.

"Why were you talking to Malfoy?" he demanded.

_Oh great, _thought Levina. _Busted._ "We were…talking."

"I just said that!" said Harry irritably. "I asked you why."

Levina's eyes narrowed at him. "What's it matter?"

"You and _Malfoy_ were talking!" said Harry in frustration.

"So?" said Luna, breaking into their conversation.

"So, they weren't fighting or anything," said Harry, looking from Luna to Levina. "Ron said he saw Draco wave at you the other day, too…Come on, what's up, Levina?"

Feeling like she could keep the secret no longer, Levina snapped, "Okay! Okay, so Draco and I don't _completely _hate each other, all right? Is it really that big of a deal to you if we talk once and while without trying to murder each other?"

Harry stared at her, clearly taken aback. "What, so you two are friends now or something?"

"Yes!" said Levina, exasperated.

"But he's a slimy little git!" said Harry angrily. "And you _know_ that I have suspicions about him—"

"Well then maybe you shouldn't!" Levina actually shrieked, startling some of the portraits nearby. "Look, he's actually making an effort to be nice to me, and quite frankly, I think it's nice having someone else to talk to! I mean, you can't pretend there's nothing wrong between Ron and Hermione—"

"I never said there wasn't—"

"—and you really need to learn to trust people more!" said Levina. "Just look at Eternity; you've never even given her a chance!"

Levina knew what she was saying was completely irrational and unfair, even as she said it, since she herself wasn't giving either of them much of a chance, but she felt as though Harry was cornering her.

Luna looked very out of place in the middle of them, but she appeared to be in her own little world, staring up at the ceiling. Levina was glad for it.

"Okay, just—calm down," said Harry, clearly frustrated but also slightly upset with himself. "Let's not fight, all right? We don't want to end up like Ron and Hermione, like you mentioned…"

Levina sank back down, disheartened. Harry was right; they were just going to end up fighting over something ridiculous, which would ultimately end up with the two of them not speaking anymore, just like Ron and Hermione were…

"I'm sorry," said Levina, sighing. "But—do you think we'll ever have Ron and Hermione back?"

Harry shook his head. "I dunno…It certainly doesn't look like it right now, does it?"

Levina sighed heavily, but she was glad that they'd resolved their own situation very quickly, and that he hadn't gone off on Draco more.

But _why_ was she even defending Draco so much in the first place?

…

"You could've taken anyone!" said Ron in disbelief over dinner. "Anyone! And you chose Loony Lovegood?"

"Don't call her that, Ron!" snapped Ginny, pausing behind Harry on her way to join friends. "I'm really glad you're taking her Harry, she's so excited."

A long way along the table Hermione was sitting alone, playing with her stew. Levina noticed Ron looking at her furtively.

"You could say sorry," suggested Harry bluntly.

"What, and get attacked by another flock of canaries?" muttered Ron.

"That was your own fault, Ron," said Levina.

"What did you have to imitate her for?" added Harry.

"She laughed at my mustache!"

"So did I, it was the stupidest thing I've ever seen."

"It _was_ pretty funny," Levina added. "You can't really blame her."

But Ron did not seem to have heard; Lavender had just arrived with Parvati. Squeezing herself in between Harry and Ron, Lavender flung her arms around Ron's neck.

"Hi, Harry, Levina," said Parvati who, like Levina, looked faintly embarrassed and bored by the behavior of their two friends.

"Hi," said Harry, "How're you? You're staying at Hogwarts, then? I heard your parents wanted you to leave."

"I managed to talk them out of it for the time being," said Parvati. "That Katie thing really freaked them out, but as there hasn't been anything since...Oh, hi, Hermione!"

Parvati positively beamed. Levina could tell that she was feeling guilty for having laughed at Hermione in Transfiguration. She looked around and saw that Hermione was beaming back, if possible even more brightly.

"Hi, Parvati!" said Hermione, ignoring Ron and Lavender completely. "Are you going to Slughorn's party tonight?"

"No invite," said Parvati gloomily. "I'd love to go, though, it sounds like it's going to be really good... you're going, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm meeting Cormac at eight, and we're—"

Levina choked on her soup she'd been eating. _"What?"_

There was a noise like a plunger being withdrawn from a blocked sink and Ron surfaced. Hermione acted as though she had not seen or heard anything.

"—we're going up to the party together."

"Cormac?" said Parvati. "Cormac McLaggen, you mean?"

"That's right," said Hermione sweetly. "The one who almost," she put a great deal of emphasis on the word, "became Gryffindor Keeper."

"Are you going out with him, then?" asked Parvati, wide-eyed.

"Oh—yes—didn't you know?" said Hermione, with a most un-Hermione-ish giggle.

"No!" said Parvati, looking positively agog at this piece of gossip. "Wow, you like your Quidditch players, don't you? First Krum, then McLaggen."

"I like really good Quidditch players," Hermione corrected her, still smiling. "Well, see you...got to go and get ready for the party..."

She left. At once Lavender and Parvati put their heads together to discuss this new development, with everything they had ever heard about McLaggen, and all they had ever guessed about Hermione. Ron looked strangely blank and said nothing, and Levina stared after Hermione, horrified. Why, why, _why _was she going with McLaggen? Had she really sunk so low in an effort of revenge? On the day Slughorn had announced the party, McLaggen had asked Levina to go, but she'd declined in the most kind way possible…Well, kind for her, anyway.

When she arrived in the Entrance Hall at eight o'clock that night, she couldn't help but repeatedly check herself in a nearby mirror on the wall; she had dressed in a bright, vibrant ruby dress that "clashed well," as Hermione put it earlier that night in the common room, with her flaming red hair, which was tied up in a red flower clip. It had a tulle-hemmed underskirt, flattering padded bust, and matching sash belt. She wore metallic pumps and her ring from Fred on her finger, and she'd managed to change her blue earrings, from the Yule Ball, into a red color with a spell.

_I hope I look okay, I hope I look okay, _thought Levina frantically; she was waiting for Fred, George, and Destiny to show up, but they were slightly late, no doubt due to Filch's new security system. She wasn't sure why it mattered to her so much how she looked, considering the fact that she and Fred were already dating, but she continually fussed over her hair.

"Well hello, good-looking," said a familiar voice; Levina whipped around to see Fred, George, and Destiny all standing in a group together, looking stunning. Fred and George wore a set of handsome green robes, and Destiny looked absolutely amazing in a ruffled, mint-colored dress with a V-neck.

"Fred!" said Levina, beaming up at him with what she was sure to be a very silly grin. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around him, breathing in his scent, which reminded her of the scents from the Love Potion.

"Hi, Levina!" said Destiny, coming forward to greet her; she and George were holding hands.

"How are you?" said Levina, breaking apart from Fred to hug her cousin as well.

"Brilliant," said Destiny, beaming happily. "Excited for the party?"

"Of course!" said Levina, but she wasn't really looking forward to the party so much as being able to see Fred again. She flashed him a quick grin and he winked back at her.

"Well, let's go, then, milady," said George, taking Destiny by the arm; Fred did the same with Levina in kind, and they headed down the corridor toward Slughorn's office. As they walked, Levina leaning her head against Fred's shoulder, she debated over whether or not to talk to Fred about the letters…She knew it wasn't Fred's fault that he had so much work, but at the same time, she wished he would make more time to write to her.

As they climbed the stairs toward Slughorn's office, the sounds of laughter, music, and loud conversation were growing louder with every step they took. When they finally reached the door, Levina tugged it open lightly.

Whether it had been built that way, or because he had used magical trickery to make it so, Slughorn's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson and gold hangings, so that it looked as though they were all inside a vast tent. The room was crowded and stuffy and bathed in the red light cast by an ornate golden lamp dangling from the center of the ceiling in which real fairies were fluttering, each a brilliant speck of light. Loud singing accompanied by what sounded like mandolins issued from a distant corner; a haze of pipe smoke hung over several elderly warlocks deep in conversation, and a number of house-elves were negotiating their way squeakily through the forest of knees, obscured by the heavy silver platters of food they were bearing, so that they looked like little roving tables.

"Miss Levina Snowpetal!" boomed Slughorn, almost as soon as Levina, Fred, George, and Destiny had squeezed in through the door. He was wearing a tasseled velvet hat to match his smoking jacket.

"Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet! And—and could it be—?" he added, his eyes widening toward Destiny. "Miss Destiny Levesque! How wonderful, how wonderful indeed!"

"Bonjour, sir," said Destiny, shaking Slughorn's hand politely, though she looked slightly uncomfortable.

"How's your father? I hope he's well," said Slughorn, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "He was in my Potions class, you know! Top of the class, in fact. A fantastic Ravenclaw if I ever saw one."

Destiny nodded awkwardly, but thankfully, Slughorn re-directed them towards the middle of the party, talking animatedly as he walked.

"Levina, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires—and, of course, his friend Sanguini."

Worple, who was a small, stout, bespectacled man, grabbed Levina's hand and shook it enthusiastically; the vampire Sanguini, who was tall and emaciated with dark shadows under his eyes, merely nodded. He looked rather bored. A gaggle of girls was standing close to him, looking curious and excited.

"Levina Snowpetal, I am simply delighted!" said Worple, peering short-sightedly up into Levina's face. "I was saying to Professor Slughorn only the other day, Where is the biography of Levina Snowpetal for which we have all been waiting?"

"Me?" said Levina, surprised pleasantly again as she had been when she met Gwenog Jones. "Really?"

"Just as modest as Horace described!" said Worple. "But seriously—" his manner changed; it became suddenly business-like, "I would be delighted to write it myself—people are craving to know more about you, and the Chosen One, craving! If you were prepared to grant me a few interviews, say in four—or five-hour sessions, why, we could have the book finished within months. And all with very little effort on your part, I assure you—ask Sanguini here if it isn't quite—Sanguini, stay here!" added Worple, suddenly stern, for the vampire had been edging toward Destiny, a rather hungry look in his eye. "Here, have a pasty," said Worple, seizing one from a passing elf and stuffing it into Sanguini's hand before turning his attention back to Levina.

"My dear girl, the gold you could make, you have no idea—"

"No thank you," said Levina, wanting badly to return to Fred. "I'm really not interested, and my date's waiting for me—"

She hastily returned to Fred and George and took Fred by the arm, leading him into the crowd; she had just seen a long mane of brown hair disappear between what looked like two members of the Weird Sisters.

"Hermione! Hermione!"

"Levina!" she said brightly. "How are you? And Fred and George—?"

Harry and Luna were standing beside her, looking slightly awkward together, but Luna wasn't wearing her usual butterbeer necklace.

"Hi!" said Destiny, peering out at her from behind George.

"Oh, hi, Destiny!" said Hermione, beaming at her as well.

"What's happened to you?" asked Levina, for Hermione looked distinctly disheveled, rather as though she had just fought her way out of a thicket of Devil's Snare.

"Oh, I've just escaped—I mean, I've just left Cormac," she said. "Under the mistletoe," she added in explanation, as Levina continued to look questioningly at her.

"Well, none of us saw that coming," said Levina sarcastically.

"Serves you right," added Harry.

"I thought he'd annoy Ron most," said Hermione dispassionately. "I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole—"

"_Smith?" _Levina practically screamed, revolted. "Hermione! How could you sink so low—?"

"Well, I didn't pick him, did I? …Although I'm starting to wish I'd chosen him, McLaggen makes Grawp look a gentleman. Let's go this way, we'll be able to see him coming, he's so tall..."

The six of them made their way over to the other side of the room, scooping up goblets of mead on the way, realizing too late that Professor Trelawney was standing there alone.

"Hello," said Luna politely to Professor Trelawney.

"Oh, great," said Fred, taking a large sip of the mead at the sight of Trelawney.

"Good evening, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, focusing upon Luna with some difficulty. "I haven't seen you in my classes lately..."

"No, I've got Firenze this year," said Luna.

"Oh, of course," said Professor Trelawney with an angry, drunken titter. "Or Dobbin, as I prefer to think of him. You would have thought, would you not, that now I am returned to the school Professor Dumbledore might have got rid of the horse? But no...we share classes...It's an insult, frankly, an insult. Do you know..."

Professor Trelawney seemed too tipsy to have recognized Fred or George, who were standing directly beside her, but she continued her conversation with Luna. Levina stood upright taller on her tiptoes to give Fred a swift kiss on the cheek, and he smiled down at her.

"Having fun?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her cheek in kind.

"Yeah," said Levina. "I mean, it's been so long since I've last seen you, right?" As she said it, she looked up at him, hoping he might catch what she was trying to say. "And you haven't exactly been replying to my mail…"

"Ah, that," said Fred, looking slightly ashamed with himself. "I haven't had any time, what with the shop and all and—" he broke off at the slightly exasperated look on Levina's face. "…and I should have sent you the letters back, Levina. I'm sorry."

Levina's expression changed almost instantly and a dopey sort of smile crossed her face. How was it that Fred could always make her feel better in just a few words? "It's all right; just try to reply to me more, okay? I miss hearing from you."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think about you every day," said Fred.

"That's a lie," said Levina, snorting.

"No, it's really not," said Fred earnestly. "I mean, most of the time, I'm pretty busy with work and I don't have time to even think, but at the end of the day, when George and I close up shop and it's all quiet…I think of you. Mostly when I'm lying in bed at night, I think about how you sleep."

"How I sleep?" Levina repeated, feeling her brain turn gradually into mush at his words.

"Sometimes when we share a room," said Fred, with a slightly embarrassed expression, "I watch you sleep. When you're not freaking out and having insane nightmares and spasms, you look so peaceful. Angelic."

_Well, there's a word I never would have thought described me, _thought Levina as her face flushed a bright red color to match her dress. "I—well—thanks?" she mumbled, unsure of how to respond.

"You're welcome, babe," said Fred with a wink.

"Seen Hermione?" said a sudden familiar voice, and McLaggen appeared near Levina's side; Hermione had vanished from sight.

"No, sorry," said Harry, and he turned quickly to join in Luna's conversation.

"Hermione? Hermione who?" said Levina, hoping she sounded convincing.

"Oh—Fred," said McLaggen realized the redheaded twin was standing beside her. His voice didn't sound very friendly. "Why are you here?"

"My girlfriend invited me," said Fred, wrapping one of his lean arms around Levina's shoulders.

"I see," said McLaggen, looking between the two of them, his eyes narrowed. "Well—I'll see you around, then—" he said to Levina, and with that, he vanished into the crowd.

At that moment, Harry inhaled half his mead up his nose as he started to laugh. Levina shot him a raised-eyebrow look at him questioningly, but before she could ask, the door flung open and Draco Malfoy appeared in the doorway, being dragged by the ear toward them by Argus Filch.

"Professor Slughorn," wheezed Filch, his jowls aquiver and the maniacal light of mischief-detection in his bulging eyes, "I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

Draco pulled himself free of Filch's grip, looking furious.

"All right, I wasn't invited!" he said angrily. "I was trying to gatecrash, happy?"

"No, I'm not!" said Filch, a statement at complete odds with the glee on his face. "You're in trouble, you are! Didn't the Headmaster say that night-time prowling is out, unless you've got permission, didn't he, eh?"

"That's all right, Argus, that's all right," said Slughorn, waving a hand. "It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment; you may stay, Draco."

Filich's expression of outraged disappointment was perfectly predictable; but why, Levina wondered, watching him, did Draco look almost equally unhappy? And why was Snape looking at Draco as though both angry and...was it possible? …A little afraid?

But almost before Levina had registered what she had seen, Filch had turned and shuffled away, muttering under his breath; Draco had composed his face into a smile and was thanking Slughorn for his generosity, and Snape's face was smoothly inscrutable again.

_Well that was weird, _thought Levina, eyeing them suspiciously.

"It's nothing, nothing," said Slughorn, waving away Draco's thanks. "I did know your grandfather, after all..."

"He always spoke very highly of you, sir," said Draco quickly. "Said you were the best potion-maker he'd ever known..."

_Always the suck-up, _thought Levina, taking a sip of her mead; it made her mind feel slightly fuzzy and light-headed, but she felt the need to do something, since Fred was now speaking with George.

"Feeling all right?" said Destiny, looking over her shoulder at Levina with concerned icy eyes.

"Yeah…fine," said Levina, putting her drink down on a nearby table. "It's just really hot in here…too many people…"

"If you're sure," said Destiny, returning to her previous conversation with the twins.

"Oi, Levina," said Draco suddenly, tapping Levina on the shoulder. She hastily looked around, surprised that he was addressing her in front of everyone in the room; Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, and Destiny were all present in the room, and she would have thought he'd have pretended she was not there.

"Uh…hi?" said Levina in a slightly strained voice. Didn't he realize that they weren't alone?

"I want a word with you," he said in a soft voice, apparently not wanting to be overheard.

"I—now?" Levina demanded; she cast a look over her shoulder at Fred, who was in a deep conversation with Destiny and George.

"Yeah," said Draco. "Just for a second—in the hallway?"

"Ah—well—" Levina spluttered uncertainly.

"Your date can wait a few minutes," said Draco, and it wasn't hard to hear the malice in his voice.

"Oh, all right," said Levina, rolling her eyes. "But make it quick."

Draco held open Slughorn's office door and the two of them walked out and into the hall, leaving the party and all of the pounding music behind.

_What could he possibly want from me? _She thought as she made her way down the empty, dimly-lit corridor. She followed close behind Draco, mimicking his footsteps as he walked, until finally he came to a stop halfway down the hall. He craned his neck in several directions, as though checking to make sure they were alone, and then turned on his heel to face her, his grey eyes intently looking into her brown.

"This far enough?" said Levina; with her canine ears, she could still hear the music, but it seemed like they had walked a fair distance down the hall. She hoped he would make this quick; she felt slightly woozy, no doubt due to the mead she'd consumed.

"Yeah." Draco turned back to face her, so that they both had their backs to the walls.

"So, what was so important that it couldn't wait until after the holidays?" said Levina.

Draco took a minute before responding. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"You're a Gryffindor."

"Right."

"And I'm a Slytherin."

"Yeah…?"

"So, we're not even really supposed to be friends."

Levina frowned. "I—well, no one really decided that was a rule, but I guess so."

"But we are friends."

"Uh-huh…? What's your point?"

Draco said nothing; he merely just stared back at her, as if contemplating something, his grey eyes boring into her brown.

"Well, if that's all you wanted—" said Levina, turning to walk away, feeling as though their conversation was fairly pointless, but he grabbed her swiftly by the arm.

"You don't get it!" said Draco, sounding almost frustrated now. "I'm trying to—trying to—" he trailed off.

"Trying to _what?"_ Levina demanded, feeling slightly uncomfortable, for her back was now up against the wall behind her.

"To tell you something," said Draco; he was so close to her now that she could see how unnaturally pale he was; she wondered if he was becoming sick or something. "I don't think I really want to be friends with you."

Levina stared at him for a moment, then scowled, affronted. _"What? _You're telling me that you're just frickin' pulling my leg _again? _What the hell is wrong with—?"

"That's not what I meant!" said Draco quickly.

"Then what? Just spit it out already!" said Levina hotly.

But Draco didn't say anything. Instead, he did something different. _Much _different. He moved slowly forward, his cloak billowing about him, so that they were face-to-face, and leaned in, his head inclined toward hers.

Levina's entire body froze, paralyzed with astonishment, and time itself seemed to both speed up and slow down all at once. Horrified, she stared back at him with a blank expression. One of Draco's hands gradually moved softly behind her head, holding it gently steady, the other coming up to rest under the base of her chin. She felt a shiver run down her spine. Draco's stormy grey eyes closed little by little, and he was so close to her that Levina could just barely feel the warmth of his breath against her face; she could even hear the steady rhythm of his heart thudding against his chest, matching hers beat for beat; the tip of his warm lips just barely brushed against hers and—

"DRACO!"

Levina and Draco both jumped, startled, and Draco broke apart from her. A dark figure was coming down the hallway towards them, his cape billowing behind him: It was Snape.

"You—" Snape pointed accusingly in Levina's direction, and Levina felt much like a deer caught in the headlights, "—back to the party. _Now._"

Levina didn't need to be told twice; she took off down the corridor at top speed and bolted around the corner. She could hear Draco's and Snape's footsteps behind her and the sound of a door being opened and slamming. Petrified and frozen like a block of ice, she remained where she stood, two of her fingers touching the tip of her lips, horrified. In the classroom, she could just barely hear their voices:

"…you mad? What were you _doing _with Miss Snowpetal?"

"What the hell does it matter to you?"

"You're straying off of your mission, and you're becoming sidetracked! She's only in the way of your—"

"She's not in the way of anything!" said Draco sharply.

"Why were you two down here alone when you should have been—?"

"It's not your business!"

Levina moved slightly, for someone was coming down the hallway, and she crept closer to the door, turning herself transparent with her color-changing spell, and returned to listen to their conversation.

"…cannot afford mistakes, Draco, because if you are expelled—"

"I didn't have anything to do with it, all right?"

"I hope you are telling the truth, because it was both clumsy and foolish. Already you are suspected of having a hand in it."

"Who suspects me?" said Draco angrily. "For the last time, I didn't do it, okay? That Bell girl must've had an enemy no one knows about—don't look at me like that! I know what you're doing, I'm not stupid, but it won't work—I can stop you!"

There was a pause and then Snape said quietly, "Ah...Aunt Bellatrix has been teaching you Occlumency, I see. What thoughts are you trying to conceal from your master, Draco?"

"I'm not trying to conceal anything from him, I just don't want you butting in!"

"So that is why you have been avoiding me this term? You have feared my interference? You realize that, had anybody else failed to come to my office when I had told them repeatedly to be there, Draco-"

"So put me in detention! Report me to Dumbledore!" jeered Draco.

There was another pause. Then Snape said, "You know perfectly well that I do not wish to do either of those things."

"You'd better stop telling me to come to your office then!"

"Listen to me," said Snape, his voice low now. "I am trying to help you. I swore to your mother I would protect you. I made the Unbreakable Vow, Draco—"

"Looks like you'll have to break it, then, because I don't need your protection! It's my job, he gave it to me and I'm doing it, I've got a plan and it's going to work, it's just taking a bit longer than I thought it would!"

"What is your plan?"

"It's none of your business!"

"If you tell me what you are trying to do, I can assist you ..."

"I have all the assistance I need, thanks, I'm not alone!"

"You were certainly alone tonight, which was foolish in the extreme, wandering the corridors without lookouts or backup, these are elementary mistakes—"

"I would've had Crabbe and Goyle with me if you hadn't put them in detention!"

"Keep your voice down!" spat Snape, for Draco's voice had risen excitedly. "If your friends Crabbe and Goyle intend to pass their Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. this time around, they will need to work a little harder than they are doing at pres—"

"What does it matter?" said Draco. "Defense Against the Dark Arts—it's all just a joke, isn't it, an act? Like any of us need protecting against the Dark Arts—"

"It is an act that is crucial to success, Draco!" said Snape. "Where do you think I would have been all these years, if I had not known how to act? Now listen to me! You are being incautious, wandering around at night, getting yourself caught, and if you are placing your reliance in assistants like Crabbe and Goyle—"

"They're not the only ones, I've got other people on my side, better people! And I have Levina!"

"But she doesn't even _know_ anything about your plan—"

"I don't want her to! D'you think I _want_ her to get hurt?"

"Then why not confide in me, and I can—"

"I know what you're up to! You want to steal my glory!"

There was another pause, then Snape said coldly, "You are speaking like a child. I quite understand that your father's capture and imprisonment has upset you, but—"

Levina had barely a second's warning; she heard Draco's footsteps on the other side of the door and flung herself out of the way just as it burst open. Draco was striding away down the corridor, past the open door of Slughorn's office, around the distant corner, and out of sight.

Hardly daring to breathe, Levina ran down the hallway in the other direction as fast as her feet would carry her, back towards the party, her mind racing with questions:

What did he mean by a 'plan'? How would _she _be hurt? Why was Snape offering to help him? What was the Unbreakable Vow? Why had he…_kissed_ her? And the worst question above all:

Why had she felt a spark?

* * *

><p><strong>Mwahahaha! (Sinister chuckle). <strong>

**Anyway...thoughts? This chapter took me forever, so I'd love some feedback from you guys! (: **

**Oh, Levina, you poor, confused child...I'm such a mean author.**

**Review! Or I'll-well, actually, I'll do nothing. Because I have no idea who you are. So...yeah.**


	9. Torn emotions

**So, um...I've been gone for about two months. Sorry if you're about ready to stab me with a pitchfork right now! But hey, at least I didn't completely ditch you lot, right?**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm J.K Rowling. I own Harry Potter and Draco and stuff. Just kidding! In the words of Sheldon Cooper, "What's life without whimsy?" (:**

* * *

><p>"So Snape was offering to help him? He was definitely offering to help him?"<p>

"If you ask. that once more," said Harry, "I'm going to stick this sprout—"

"Harry!" said Levina sharply.

"I'm only checking!" said Ron. Harry, Ron, and Levina were standing alone at the Burrow's kitchen sink, peeling a mountain of sprouts for Mrs. Weasley. Snow was drifting past the window in front of them.

"These ears don't fail me," said Levina, gesturing to her right ear with one of the sprouts in her hand.

"Yeah, about that," said Harry, eyeing Levina sidelong with a suspicious look, "I've been meaning to ask you about that night: While I was there, I saw you running down the hallway at top speed, away from where Malfoy and Snape were. What were you two doing?"

"Talking," said Levina, stretching the truth through clenched teeth. She clasped the sprout in her hand so tightly that it squished into a pulp.

"About what?"

"Does it matter?" said Levina defensively.

"Yes, because I heard them mention your name!" said Harry.

"It's not my fault if I'm a popular topic—"

"So you both overheard…?" interjected Ron.

"Snape was offering to help him!" said Harry. "He said he'd promised Malfoy's mother to protect him, that he'd made an Unbreakable Oath or something—"

"An Unbreakable Vow?" said Ron, looking stunned. "Nah, he can't have…Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," said Harry. "Why, what does it mean?"

"Well, you can't break an Unbreakable Vow…"

"Nah, really?" said Levina.

"I'd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough. What happens if you break it, then?"

"You die," said Ron simply. "Fred and George tried to get me to make one when I was about five. I nearly did too, I was holding hands with Fred and everything when Dad found us. He went mental," said Ron, with a reminiscent gleam in his eyes. "Only time I've ever seen Dad as angry as Mum, Fred reckons his left buttock has never been the same since."

Levina snorted loudly and nearly cut herself with the knife.

"Yeah, well, passing over Fred's left buttock —"

"I beg your pardon?" said Fred's voice as the twins entered the kitchen. "Hi, Levina. Gossiping about me?"

"Oh no, we've been discovered!" said Levina, flashing him a halfhearted grin; ever since the night with Draco, she wasn't able to look at Fred the same way she usually did, or even make full eye contact with him. Things just felt…awkward. Part of her felt like she had betrayed Fred with her half-snog with Draco, even if she didn't instigate it or kiss back…Maybe the guilty stirring in her gut was due to the fact that she couldn't bring herself to tell him about it, but she was afraid of what he might do to Draco if he found out…All hell would surely break loose.

"Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything. Bless them."

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time," said Ron grumpily, "and then I'll be able to do it by magic!"

"But meanwhile," said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet up on it, "we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a—whoops-a-daisy!"

"You made me do that!" said Ron angrily, sucking his cut thumb. "You wait, when I'm seventeen —"

"I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills," yawned Fred.

"And speaking of hitherto unsuspected skills, Ronald," said George, "what is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called—unless our information is faulty—Lavender Brown?"

Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to the sprouts. "Mind your own business."

"What a snappy retort," said Fred. "I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was...how did it happen?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Did she have an accident or something?"

"What?"

"Well, how did she sustain such extensive brain damage? Careful, now!"

Mrs. Weasley entered the room just in time to see Ron throw the sprout knife at Fred, who had turned it into a paper airplane with one lazy flick of his wand. Levina turned and glared at Ron.

"Could you _try _to not kill my boyfriend?"

"Ron!" said Mrs. Weasley furiously. "Don't you ever let me see you throwing knives again!"

"I wont," said Ron, "let you see," he added under his breath, as he turned back to the sprout mountain. "And sorry Levina," he added in a tone that suggested he was not sorry at all.

"Fred, George, I'm sorry, dears, but Remus is arriving tonight, so Bill will have to squeeze in with you."

"No problem," said George.

"Levina, you and Destiny don't mind staying in Fred and George's room, do you?" said Mrs. Weasley, who's eyes were searching Levina's face distrustfully, as though she thought suspicious activity might occur if the boyfriends and girlfriends shared a room.

"No need to worry," said Levina, waving her hand dismissively.

"Then, as Charlie isn't coming home, that just leaves Harry, Eric, and Ron in the attic, and if Fleur shares with Ginny—"

"—that'll make Ginny's Christmas—" muttered Fred.

"—everyone should be comfortable. Well, they'll have a bed, anyway," said Mrs. Weasley, sounding slightly harassed.

"Percy definitely not showing his ugly face, then?" asked Fred.

Mrs. Weasley turned away before she answered. "No, he's busy, I expect, at the Ministry."

"Or he's the world's biggest prat," said Fred, as Mrs. Weasley left the kitchen. "One of the two. Well, let's get going, then, George."

"What are you two up to?" asked Ron. "Can't you help us with these sprouts? You could just use your wand and then we'll be free too!"

"No, I don't think we can do that," said Fred seriously. "It's very character-building stuff, learning to peel sprouts without magic, makes you appreciate how difficult it is for Muggles and Squibs—"

"— and if you want people to help you, Ron," added George, throwing the paper airplane at him, "I wouldn't chuck knives at them. Just a little hint. We're off to the village, there's a very pretty girl working in the paper shop who thinks our card tricks are some-thing marvelous…almost like real magic…"

"Excuse me?" Levina demanded, turning sharply to face George with her hands on her hips. "Have you forgotten the fact that you have a girlfriend?"

"A girlfriend who just so happened to notice the fact that there's a very cute boy who works with the girl," said a voice near the doorway, and Destiny appeared at Levina's side, shrugging on her white winter jacket over her shoulders.

"What?" said Levina, looking back and forth between the two in confusion.

"We agreed that we can both 'look'," said George, winking at Destiny. "Not that I could get any better than you."

"I concur," said Destiny, nodding. "But what can I say? Muggles love magic."

"So what's _your _excuse?" said Levina, eyeing Fred. "_This_ girlfriend just so happens to be stuck at home cutting up sprouts."

"It's a two-person act," said Fred, grinning at Levina's expression. "You're welcome to come along and keep an eye on me, but why would I risk losing the perfect girl?"

Levina flushed a bright red, feeling a strange combination of satisfaction and shame. Fred always knew exactly what to say, he was always there for her, and would never betray her, surely. And yet here she was, the 'perfect' girl, lying to him behind his back. She felt sick.

"I'll be watching him; don't sweat it," said Destiny cheerfully.

Fred kissed Levina softly in the middle of her forehead, grabbed his jacket, and swept out the door with Destiny and George at his side.

"Gits," said Ron darkly, watching the three of them setting off across the snowy yard. "Would've only taken them ten seconds and then we could've gone too."

"I couldn't," said Harry. "I promised Dumbledore I wouldn't wander off while I'm staying here."

"Oh yeah," said Ron. He peeled a few more sprouts and then said, "Are you going to tell Dumbledore what you heard Snape and Malfoy saying to each other?"

"Yep," said Harry. "I'm going to tell anyone who can put a stop to it, and Dumbledore's top of the list. I might have another word with your dad too."

"Well, I'm curious now, too," said Levina as she sliced another sprout apart, "considering I was mentioned in their conversation."

"Yeah, since when does Malfoy not want _you _of all people to get hurt?" said Harry, turning yet again to search her face. "And what did he mean by, 'I have Levina'?"

"If you're implying that we're planning something together," said Levina through gritted teeth, "then I swear to you I will use this knife on something other than the sprouts—"

"Still, it's strange, even if you two are 'friends'," said Harry. "Which, by the way, as long as you're 'his'—"

"I'm not his!" spat Levina crossly.

"—then do you think you could squeeze some information out of him?" said Harry. "If he confides in your or something, then you could ask him about his plan and—"

"And what?" demanded Levina. "Betray his trust?"

"Listen to yourself!" said Harry, clearly agitated. "What 'trust'? _We're _your friends, Levina!"

"Are you trying to make me choose sides or something? Huh?"

"Yeah, I am," said Harry coldly. There was a moment's pause in which the two of them glared at each other until Ron cleared his throat and said:

"Pity you didn't hear what Malfoy's actually doing, though."

"I couldn't have done, could I? That was the whole point, he was refusing to tell Snape."

When neither of them answered him, Ron said, "'Course, you know what they'll all say? Dad and Dumbledore and all of them? They'll say Snape isn't really trying to help Malfoy, he was just trying to find out what Malfoy's up to."

"They didn't hear him," said Harry flatly. "No one's that good an actor, not even Snape."

"Yeah…I'm just saying, though," said Ron.

Harry turned to face him, frowning. "You think I'm right, though?"

"Yeah, I do!" said Ron hastily. "Seriously, I do! But they're all convinced Snape's in the Order, aren't they?"

Levina shrugged and sliced her last sprout grimly. She was beginning to wonder whether her friendship—or whatever she had with Draco—was worth risking her relationship with Fred and her other friends for.

Later that evening, Levina found herself sitting alone with Destiny in the attic, playing wizard's chess in silence, save for some hooting and the occasional purr from Athena and Lilypad. Ron, Harry, and the others were downstairs, presumably either playing Quidditch outside or decorating the house. Levina's stomach churned unpleasantly and it wasn't long until the horrible guilt crept up into her mouth in the form of words:

"I snogged Draco Malfoy."

Destiny's icy blue eyes rose slowly from the chess board to look Levina in the eye. She searched her face for a moment, as though she weren't sure whether Levina was joking or not.

"Sorry?" said Destiny, frowning.

"Draco," said Levina. Her throat felt dry. "On the night of Slughorn's Christmas party."

Destiny didn't say anything. Uncomfortable with the silence, Levina seized Fred the Pygmy puff, who was rolling by, off of the floor and set him in her lap, eyeing Destiny out of the corner of her eye.

"You…snogged him?" Destiny repeated in a hushed voice.

"He said he wanted a word with me. We went out into the hallway, and when we were talking, he…it was more of a peck on the lips!" she said defensively, for Destiny was gaping open-mouthed at her now.

"He kissed you?" said Destiny, her eyes wide. "No way…Draco? I thought…but he doesn't like you…" She trailed off. "Why?"

"How should I know!" said Levina, standing up so suddenly that Fred fell from her lap and rolled across the floor, his pink fur ruffled up and standing on end.

"But you're with Fred!" said Destiny, also rising to her feet now.

"Exactly! It's been driving me insane," said Levina, advancing forward to her cousins' side. "I haven't been able to talk to anyone, and I've wanted to tell Fred _so_ badly but…"

"But he'd probably beat Draco to death with his Beaters' bat," Destiny finished.

Levina nodded. "I don't get it…I'm so confused, you know? I mean, we're supposed to be enemies—and then he decides we should be friends—and now, suddenly, he wants to be more?"

"Or just wanted a good snog," Destiny joked. Levina hit her on the shoulder.

"It's not funny!"

Destiny giggled. "Wow…You and Draco, huh? This is so…weird…"

"Of course it's weird!" said Levina hotly. "It's very, very weird!"

"Well…do you like him?"

"Excuse me?" said Levina fiercely.

"I said, 'Do you like him'?"

Levina didn't say anything. "What does that have to do with anything? I'm dating Fred."

"But if you weren't dating Fred—"

"But I _am!"_

Destiny rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying you should betray his trust, I'm just asking whether there may be something that—"

"He's a _Slytherin!" _protested, practically stamping her foot now. "He said it himself! He's just a dirty, rotten little…snake!"

"So?"

"And I'm a Gryffindor!" said Levina heatedly. "I'm a lion, Destiny!"

Destiny snorted. "More like a wolf, but…Whoever said a lion can't be with a snake?"

Levina stared blankly at Destiny, horrified. She'd expected Destiny to have gone off on her and made her apologize and tell the truth to Fred, not…not encourage the behavior!

"Stop it, Destiny!" said Levina angrily. "Look, I don't like him, okay? I don't!" _So why do I feel like I'm telling another lie? _Levina thought, her heart sinking. "I seriously don't!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," said Destiny, picking up the chess pieces, which had fallen when Levina had begun her tantrum. "Look, I'm just saying that it's not the worst thing in the world if Draco gave you a little peck. Yeah, he's a Slytherin, but the only reason I don't like him is because of his family. What's _your _reason?"

"That—that—that he's a Slytherin!" said Levina, but she was beginning to feel defeated. Really, her only defense was that Draco was a Slytherin, but were they really _all _bad people?

Destiny rolled her eyes. "Right. Are there any _good _Slytherins?"

"Well…" Levina hesitated. "Eternity isn't all that bad."

"Who's Eternity?"

"Eternity Russell. She's a Slytherin, but she doesn't really seem—" said Levina, but Destiny suddenly cut her off abruptly.

"_Russell?" _Destiny repeated in a soft, very frighteningly thin voice. "Did you say _Russell?" _

"Yeah…?" said Levina in a slightly alarmed voice. The conversation had taken such a rapid change that it took her off guard. "Why?"

"Why? _Why?" _Destiny demanded, her icy blue eyes thinning into slits. "The Russell family is part of the Lestranges!" she squealed, stamping her foot in anger.

"_What!" _said Levina, stunned. "You're kidding!"

"I'm not! Lydia Russell was Bellatrix's sister, but she married someone—John Russell, I believe is what Eric said—"

"What?" Levina gasped, shocked. "But—but Bellatrix's sister is Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mum-"

"Exactly! I don't know what happened between them or where her parents are now, but Eternity is Draco's cousin!"

"That can't be possible," said Levina, but even as she said it, the reality began to set in: They did have a fairly similar facial shape, now that she thought of it…

"That horrible, horrible witch!" said Destiny, positively seething with rage,

"What happened to her?" said Levina, bemused. "She's not on the Black family tree!"

Destiny shook her head. "Of course she is, you probably just didn't recognize her name at the time…Lydia Russell is almost as well-known for her murders as Bellatrix is! She's positively insane, that's what dad's told me. She killed her husband John shortly after they were married, to get the money, I think."

"But—but Draco's never mentioned her," said Levina. "And Eternity and Draco don't exactly seem very close. I've never even see them talk."

"I wouldn't imagine they would," said Destiny. "Lydia didn't get along with her sisters, especially Narcissa…And she went to Azkaban for the murder of many muggle borns, her own husband, and Eric's half-sister."

Levina's jaw dropped, and for a moment she thought her canine ears had misheard her cousin.  
>"Eric had a sister?"<p>

"Yeah, has he never told you? I'm not surprised." Destiny shook her head grimly. "You know how his mom had him with a wizard? Well, she had his half-sister with _another _wizard…Sirens get around," she added as Levina raised her eyebrows at her.

"How old was she? Did Eric know her?"

"You can't tell Eric I told you this," said Destiny sharply. "Okay? Promise me." Levina nodded. "He hates thinking about it, because, due to his…his _stupid_ mum, he's under the impression it was his fault. Dad says Eric was there when it happened; Lydia killed her because she was half-siren and had "dirty blood," but Lydia didn't step in between them to defend her, not like Lily Potter or your mom did. She just let it happen, probably because she didn't want to risk her own life." Destiny sighed. "In any event, Eric was able to escape, but his mum blames him for it because she said he should have stepped in between them and helped her himself instead of running away, even though it was already too late..."

Just _how _messed up was Eric? He was half-siren, his half-sister was killed, his mum blamed him for it, his parents both disowned him and gave him up…It was a wonder he wasn't completely insane. "That's horrible."

"Yeah. Eric's sworn revenge on their family since then, but, of course, there's not much he can do right now, is there?"

"Where's her mum now?" said Levina.

"Still in prison, I hope. And this 'nice' Eternity girl you're talking about? Her mom was the one who killed Eric's sister. You haven't been hanging around her, have you?"

"Well…" said Levina, feeling slightly ashamed of herself now. "I've seen her a few times…But we made sure no other Slytherins were around!" she added.

Destiny slapped her forehead. "Levina! You should never be alone with her—do you _know _what she's capable of? Now that's one Slytherin you _don't_ want to cross."

"I'll be more careful," said Levina, but she now had a horrible thought cross her mind: What if Eternity was acting kind to her and being her friend all of a sudden because she had her own plan in mind? Or was she in on Draco's? If her mother hated half-breeds enough to kill them, then she probably had the same views…

And that meant that she might just be planning to kill Levina, too.

….

On Christmas Eve, the Weasleys and their guests were sitting in the living room, which Ginny and Destiny had decorated so lavishly that it was rather like sitting in a paper-chain explosion. Fred, George, Harry, Levina, Destiny, and Ron were the only ones who knew that the angel on top of the tree was actually a garden gnome that had bitten Fred on the ankle as he pulled up carrots for Christmas dinner. Stupefied, painted gold, stuffed into a miniature tutu and with small wings glued to its back, it glowered down at them all, the ugliest angel Levina had ever seen, with a large bald head like a potato and rather hairy feet.

They were all supposed to be listening to a Christmas broadcast by Mrs. Weasleys favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck, whose voice was warbling out of the large wooden wireless set. Fleur, who seemed to find Celestina very dull, was talking so loudly in the corner that a scowling Mrs. Weasley kept pointing her wand at the volume control, so that Celestina grew louder and louder. Uncle Nick was sitting in an armchair near the fire, smirking through his hands as Mrs. Weasley and Fleur battled with the music. Under cover of a particularly jazzy number called "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love," Fred took Levina by the hand and led her in a very awkward but nevertheless fun dance about the living room. Ron kept shooting Bill and Fleur covert looks, as though hoping to pick up tips. Destiny, sitting holding hands with George by the fire, continually shot Levina exasperated looks as she accidentally stepped on Fred's feet, having forgotten most of Destiny's dance lessons.

_Oh, come and stir my cauldron,_

_And if you do it right, _

_I'll boil you up some hot strong love _

_To keep you warm tonight. _

"We danced to this when we were eighteen!" said Mrs. Weasley, wiping her eyes on her knitting. "Do you remember, Arthur?"

"Mphf?" said Mr. Weasley, whose head had been nodding over the Satsuma he was peeling. "Oh yes...marvelous tune…"

"Sorry about this," said Fred to Levina as he spun her, gesturing to the music box. "Not exactly my taste in music, but hey, it's okay dance music."

"Yeah," said Levina uncomfortably. The dancing reminded her of the Yule Ball, which brought back fond memories, but they were clouded by not-so-fond recent memories…

They danced until the song ended and "You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me," started, then sat down next to Destiny and George by the fire. Levina merely leaned on Fred's shoulder for a while, staring into the flickering golden flames in the fireplace, until she noticed Eric out of the corner of her eye leaving the room with an owl on his arm.

"Be right back," said Levina, climbing down from her seat. She tiptoed out behind Eric, who'd slipped out into the garden. She could see his dark figure emerge into the moonlight, his golden eyes gleaming brightly in the shadows. He carried a letter in his hand, which he attached to Stanislav, his spotted Eagle owl.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Eric jolted in surprise, turned to see who it was, and hastily regained his composure. "Oh…hey. I'm just sending a letter."

"To whom, may I ask?" said Levina curiously, but she had a feeling she knew the answer.

Eric shot her an annoyed look. "My girlfriend."

"Ha! I knew it! I mean…cool," said Levina, grinning.

Eric rolled his golden eyes. "Yeah. I'm just wishing her a Happy Christmas…She's staying with her grandparents, so she couldn't come here. So Charlie's keeping an eye on Ryuu for us," he added.

"I see," said Levina as Eric let Stanislav fly off with the letter, flapping his powerful wings as he took off. "So…if you don't mind my asking…have you told her about...you know…" She trailed off uncertainly.

Eric raised his eyebrows at her. "My Siren blood?" he finished for her, and Levina was surprised at the lack of contempt in his voice. "Yes, she knows. It doesn't bother her, though. We don't eat people, you know," he added.

"What? No! Of course I know that—" Levina spluttered, but Eric began to laugh. She frowned up at him in surprise; laughing was a rarity for Eric.

"I was kidding," he said, running a hand through his dark bangs as he smiled faintly.

"Well, if it helps any, I get that a lot, too," said Levina, "you know, since I'm…er…special?"

"That's not exactly the word I would use, but whatever makes you feel better," said Eric, and when Levina scowled at him he smirked again. "Still kidding."

Levina sighed in relief. She was _definitely _not going to mention his half-sister to him, as Destiny made her promise, but she was glad that he seemed comfortable now with talking about his Siren blood.

"Do all of the people working at the dragon sanctuary have tattoos like that?" said Levina, gesturing to the one coiling up Eric's arm: It was a long, black tattoo of a dragon that extended up his arm and into his shirt. Eric shook his head.

"No, but Charlie and I went to get those together. I see you have a bit of your own ink on your arm, too," he added, leaning forward for a better look at Levina's right arm. It took her a split-second to realize what he was looking at. "You're not old enough to have that, you know—"

"Ah—wait, that's not—" she protested, but Eric had clearly already seen it, for his golden eyes narrowed darkly.

"What's that?" he demanded, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her arm up for a better look.

"Did you never notice that over the summer? Uncle Nicholas and Destiny already knew that was there," said Levina, attempting to pull her arm out of his grip.

Eric didn't let go for another second, his eyes studying the print, his expression one of disgust. Then he finally dropped her arm and shook his head.

"I remember you mentioning _something_ about it—I wasn't really paying attention. Umbridge, right?"

Levina blinked at him in bewilderment. It wasn't often that Eric took any interest in anything of Levina's, or anyone for that matter, so his attention took her by surprise. "Yeah. She made my write it into my arm."

Eric nodded, but he didn't say anything. Although they didn't talk much, Levina definitely felt a connection between them, like she did with Lupin or Hagrid. Only people who were truly 'half-breeds' could understand the loathing she often felt to those who didn't accept her differences.

"Good to see you didn't die or something," said a voice, and Levina looked over her shoulder to see George peering out through the door, grinning. "You've been talking for a while."

"Have we?" said Levina vaguely, smiling back at him. "Let's go back inside, Eric."

…_and now you've torn it quite apart I'll thank you to give back my heart! _

Celestina ended her song on a very long, high-pitched note and loud applause issued out of the wireless, which Mrs. Weasley joined in with enthusiastically.

"Eez eet over?" said Fleur loudly. "Thank goodness, what an 'orrible—"

"Shall we have a nightcap, then?" asked Mr. Weasley loudly, leaping to his feet. "Who wants eggnog?"

"What have you been up to lately?" Harry asked Lupin, as Mr. Weasley bustled off to fetch the eggnog, and everybody else stretched and broke into conversation. Levina listened in on their conversation curiously as Eric headed off into the kitchen with Destiny.

"Oh, I've been underground," said Lupin. "Almost literally. That's why I haven't been able to write, Harry; sending letters to you would have been something of a giveaway."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been living among my fellows, my equals," said Lupin. "Werewolves," he added, at Harrys look of incomprehension. "Nearly all of them are on Voldemort's side. Dumbledore wanted a spy and here I was…ready-made."

Levina flinched, having just come out of one awkward half-blood conversation only to step into another.

He sounded a little bitter, and perhaps realized it, for he smiled more warmly as he went on, "I am not complaining; it is necessary work and who can do it better than I? However, it has been difficult gaining their trust. I bear the unmistakable signs of having tried to live among wizards, you see, whereas they have shunned normal society and live on the margins, stealing—and sometimes killing—to eat."

"How come they like Voldemort?"

"They think that, under his rule, they will have a better life," said Lupin. "And it is hard to argue with Greyback out there…"

"Who's Greyback?"

"You haven't heard of him?" Lupin's hands closed convulsively in his lap. "Fenrir Greyback is, perhaps, the most savage werewolf alive today. He regards it as his mission in life to bite and to contaminate as many people as possible; he wants to create enough werewolves to overcome the wizards. Voldemort has promised him prey in return for his services. Greyback specializes in children…Bite them young, he says, and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards. Voldemort has threatened to unleash him upon people's sons and daughters; it is a threat that usually produces good results."

"That's horrible!" said Levina, and both Lupin and Harry looked over at her, having not noticed her standing there. She'd heard of Fenrir Greyback before, but she never knew what his reputation was.

"Oh, hello, Levina. I'm sorry you have to hear this," said Lupin.

"No, no, go on," said Levina, her anger bubbling up. "I'd like to hear about this guy."

Lupin paused for a split-second and said, "It was Greyback who bit me."

"What?" said Harry, astonished.

"You're joking!" said Levina, horrified.

"When—when you were a kid, you mean?"

"Yes. My father had offended him. I did not know, for a very long time, the identity of the werewolf who had attacked me; I even felt pity for him, thinking that he had had no control, knowing by then how it felt to transform. But Greyback is not like that. At the full moon, he positions himself close to victims, ensuring that he is near enough to strike. He plans it all. And this is the man Voldemort is using to marshal the werewolves. I cannot pretend that my particular brand of reasoned argument is making much headway against Greyback's insistence that we werewolves deserve blood, that we ought to revenge ourselves on normal people."

"But you are normal!" said Harry fiercely. "Both of you! You've just got—a problem—"

Lupin burst out laughing. "Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my and Nadia's 'furry little problem in company. Many people were under the impression that we owned a badly behaved

rabbit."

Levina snorted. "So your gang all knew about my mom, then?"

"Oh yes, once she joined our lot she eventually opened up to me about it, and, naturally, the whole group eventually heard it, too."

Although glad their conversation ended on a high note, Levina's stomach felt painful. She couldn't help but think about it…werewolves were meant to hunt and kill humans. They were meant to have blood. _She _was meant to hunt.

She shuddered at the thought and suppressed it. _At least I don't change ever full moon. That would be disastrous…_

She accepted a glass of eggnog from Mr. Weasley with a word of thanks, slurping it eagerly and earning an annoyed look from Fleur.

"Have you ever heard of someone called the Half-Blood Prince?" said Harry suddenly.

"The Half-Blood what?" said Lupin.

"Prince," said Harry, watching him closely.

"There are no Wizarding princes," said Lupin, now smiling. "Is this a title you're thinking of adopting? I should have thought being 'the Chosen One' would be enough."

"It's nothing to do with me!" said Harry indignantly, and Levina smirked into her eggnog. "The Half-Blood Prince is someone who used to go to Hogwarts, I've got his old Potions book. He wrote spells all over it, spells he invented. One of them was Levicorpus—"

"Oh, that one had a great vogue during my time at Hogwarts," said Lupin reminiscently. "There were a few months in my fifth year when you couldn't move for being hoisted into the air by your ankle."

"My dad used it," said Harry. "I saw him in the Pensieve, he used it on Snape."

Levina shot Harry a dirty look. He was obviously trying to sound casual, as though this was a throwaway comment of no real importance, but she didn't want Lupin to question them further on the subject.

"Yes," he said, "but he wasn't the only one. As I say, it was very popular…You know how these spells come and go…"

"But it sounds like it was invented while you were at school," Harry persisted.

"Not necessarily," said Lupin. "Jinxes go in and out of fashion like everything else."

He looked into Harry's face and then said quietly, "James was a pureblood, Harry, and I promise you, he never asked us to call him 'Prince.'"

Abandoning pretense, Harry said, "And it wasn't Sirius? Or you?"

"Definitely not."

"What about Levina's dad?" said Harry.

"Rick was a pureblood, too, and never mentioned anything about a prince, either."

"Oh." Harry stared into the fire. "I just thought—well, he's helped me out a lot in Potions classes, the Prince has."

"Indeed he has," said Levina, nodding in agreement.

"How old is this book, Harry?"

"I dunno, I've never checked."

"Well, perhaps that will give you some clue as to when the Prince was at Hogwarts," said Lupin.

Shortly after this, Fleur decided to imitate Celestina singing "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love," which was taken by everyone, once they had glimpsed Mrs. Weasley's expression, to be the cue to go to bed. Levina, Destiny, Fred, and George headed up to their bedroom, where Destiny fell asleep almost immediately. It may have been either out of courtesy to Fred and Levina or just out of lack of sleep that George also crashed instantly, but either way, it left the two of them awake in their beds.

Levina's stomach hurt, but it had nothing to do with the eggnog. The disconcerting reality of Draco scheming something at school was attempting to set in, and she felt torn to shreds as to whether or not she wanted to voice her concerns to Fred. However, if she did, she would have to mention their half-kiss...

"Something bothering you?" said Fred.

"The usual," said Levina, hoping she could dance around the truth in as little words as possible. Beside her, Destiny stirred in her sleep.

There was a short pause. "If you want, you can come over here."

Levina turned onto her right side to face him. "What?"

"The two of us don't take up much room," said Fred, gesturing to George. "If you're having trouble sleeping, you can sleep here."

"Wait, you're saying I can come into your b-bed?" said Levina, stammering on the last word.

"Yeah."

Even in the darkness, Levina was certain her flushed face could be seen. Sure, she had once laid next to Fred on the floor when he rolled over onto her in their fourth year, but that was different. That time, he was fast asleep and had no idea he was even on her sleeping bag.

"Well…uh, sure, yeah, that might help," said Levina quickly, slurring her words together. She slid slowly out from under her covers, trying to not wake Destiny, and crossed the room. Fred moved back slightly so that there was space and pulled back the covers so that Levina could lie down next to them. Levina sank slowly onto the bed, her heart pounding so loud in her chest that she thought he might hear it. Curled up against his warm chest, Levina felt Fred wrap one arm around her protectively and pull her closer under the covers.

She had to hand it to him; Fred was much more of an expert in romantic matters than she could ever be. Although initially awkward, Levina soon relaxed against him, feeling safe and calm, and even her troublesome thoughts vanished into nonexistence. It wasn't long into she sank into her dreams, but she had a feeling that no dream her mind could construct would be better than the current reality.

….

"'Morning, Lovebirds."

Levina jerked awake and her eyes shot open. She was still pressed warmly up against Fred, but George was standing beside the bed with a stocking in his hand, grinning.

"Hi," said Levina sleepily, pulling away from Fred in slight embarrassment. Fred stirred from his own sleep and sat upright, rubbing his eyes.

"Don't you want to look at your presents?" said Destiny, who was sitting criss-cross on her bed. "And sorry if I tossed and turned too much last night."

"Nah, it's fine," said Levina, subconsciously brushing out her tangled hair with her fingers. "I was just having trouble sleeping."

Levina's presents included a sweater with a large Antipodian Opaleye dragon worked onto the front (Her favorite breed of dragon), hand-knitted by Mrs. Weasley, a large box of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products from the twins, which included Pink Coconut Ice, a book on dragon breeds from Eric, and a pretty pair of earrings from Destiny.

"Mm, Coconut Ice," said Levina, tearing into the box with a relish.

"These sweaters are lovely," said Destiny, who was sporting a vibrant blue sweater with a pixie on it.

Everybody was wearing new sweaters when they all sat down for Christmas lunch, everyone except Fleur (on whom, it appeared, Mrs. Weasley had not wanted to waste one) and Mrs. Weasley herself, who was sporting a brand-new midnight blue witch's hat glittering with what looked like tiny starlike diamonds, and a spectacular golden necklace.

"Fred and George gave them to me! Aren't they beautiful?"

"Well, we find we appreciate you more and more, Mum, now we're washing our own socks," said George, waving an airy hand. "Parsnips, Remus?"

"Harry, you've got a maggot in your hair," said Ginny cheerfully, leaning across the table to pick it out; Harry gave an involuntary quiver at her touch and Levina looked between the two of them curiously.

It wasn't exactly her place or her business, but it was pretty obvious that Harry liked Ginny. She continually wanted to point out to him that she liked him when they were younger and he blew her off, but she knew it would only cause another fight between them if he pointed out her "relationship" with Draco.

"'Ow 'orrible," said Fleur, with an affected little shudder.

"Yes, isn't it?" said Ron. "Gravy, Fleur?"

In his eagerness to help her, he knocked the gravy boat flying; Bill waved his wand and the gravy soared up in the air and returned meekly to the boat.

"You are as bad as zat Tonks," said Fleur to Ron, when she had finished kissing Bill in thanks. "She is always knocking—"

"I invited dear Tonks to come along today," said Mrs. Weasley, setting down the carrots with unnecessary force and glaring at Fleur. Destiny and Levina exchanged an amused look across the table and hastily looked away from each other to keep from giggling. "But she wouldn't come. Have you spoken to her lately, Remus?"

"No, I haven't been in contact with anybody very much," said Lupin. "But Tonks has got her own family to go to, hasn't she?"

"Hmmm," said Mrs. Weasley. "Maybe. I got the impression she was planning to spend Christmas alone, actually."

She gave Lupin an annoyed look, as though it was all his fault she was getting Fleur for a daughter-in-law instead of Tonks.

"Well, that's sad," said Uncle Nicholas, pouring gravy onto his plate. "Christmas is a time for family! She shouldn't be alone."

"Tonks's Patronus has changed its form," Harry interjected. "Snape said so anyway. I didn't know that could happen. Why would your Patronus change?"

Lupin took his time chewing his turkey and swallowing before saying slowly, "Sometimes…a great shock…an emotional up-heaval…"

"It looked big, and it had four legs," said Harry, struck by a sudden thought and lowering his voice. "Hey…it couldn't be—?"

_A werewolf! _Thought Levina, slapping her forehead internally. Her Patronus must've changed to a Werewolf. But why…?

"Arthur!" said Mrs. Weasley suddenly. She had risen from her chair; her hand was pressed over her heart and she was staring out of the kitchen window. "Arthur—it's Percy!"

"What?"

Mr. Weasley looked around. Everybody looked quickly at the window; Ginny stood up for a better look. There, sure enough, was Percy Weasley, striding across the snowy yard, his horn-rimmed glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was not, however, alone.

"Arthur, he's—he's with the Minister!"

And sure enough, the man Levina had seen in the Daily Prophet was following along in Percy's wake, limping slightly, his mane of graying hair and his black cloak flecked with snow. Before any of them could say anything, before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could do: more than exchange stunned looks, the back door opened and there stood Percy.

There was a moment's painful silence. Then Percy said rather stiffly, "Merry Christmas, Mother."

"Prat," Fred mouthed at Levina across the table, and she smirked in agreement.

"Oh, Percy!" said Mrs. Weasley, and she threw herself into his arms.

Rufus Scrimgeour paused in the doorway, leaning on his walking stick and smiling as he observed this affecting scene.

"You must forgive this intrusion," he said, when Mrs. Weasley looked around at him, beaming and wiping her eyes. "Percy and I were in the vicinity—working, you know—and he couldn't resist dropping in and seeing you all."

Levina found this very difficult to believe, as Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the rest of the family. He stood, poker-straight and awkward-looking, and stared over everybody else's heads. Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George were all observing him, stony-faced.

"Please, come in, sit down, Minister!" fluttered Mrs. Weasley, straightening her hat. Have a little purkey, or something, I mean —"

"No, no, my dear Molly," said Scrimgeour. Levina guessed that he had checked her name with Percy before they entered the house. "I don't want to intrude, wouldn't be here at all if Percy hadn't wanted to see you all so badly…"

Yet again, Levina sensed there was a much different reason for the Minister to show up uninvited to their house. She had a nasty feeling it had something to do with the "Chosen One"…

"Oh, Perce!" said Mrs. Weasley tearfully, reaching up to kiss him.

"…We've only looked in for five minutes, so I'll have a stroll around the yard while you catch up with Percy. No, no, I assure you I don't want to butt in! Well, if anybody cared to show me your charming garden…Ah, that young man's finished, why doesn't he take a stroll with me?"

The atmosphere around the table changed perceptibly. Everybody looked from Scrimgeour to Harry. Nobody seemed to find Scrimgeour's pretense that he did not know Harry's name convincing, or find it natural that he should be chosen to accompany the Minister around the garden when Ginny, Eric, Destiny, Levina, Fleur, and George also had clean plates.

"Yeah, all right," said Harry into the silence.

Levina was not fooled; for all Scrimgeour's talk that they had just been in the area, that Percy wanted to look up his family, this must be the real reason that they had come, so that Scrimgeour could speak to Harry alone.

"It's fine," he said quietly, as he passed Lupin, who had half risen from his chair. "Fine," he added, as Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to speak.

"Wonderful!" said Scrimgeour, standing back to let Harry pass through the door ahead of him. "We'll just take a turn around the garden, and Percy and I'll be off. Carry on, everyone!"

"Well, this can't be anything good," said Levina grimly, watching as the pair of them strolled out through the door and into the yard of fallen snow.

….

Late in the afternoon, a few days after New Year, Harry, Ron, Levina, and Ginny lined up beside the kitchen fire to return to Hogwarts. Destiny had already left with Eric and Uncle Nicholas, who were going to take her back to Beaubatons Academy. The Ministry had arranged this one-off connection to the Floo Network to return students quickly and safely to the school. Only Mrs. Weasley and Fred were there to say good-bye, as Mr. Weasley, George, Bill, and Fleur were all at work. Fred had made an exception to see Levina off before heading out to work. Mrs. Weasley dissolved into tears at the moment of parting. Admittedly, it took very little to set her off lately; she had been crying on and off ever since Percy had stormed from the house on Christmas Day with his glasses splattered with mashed parsnip (for which Fred, George, and Ginny all claimed credit).

"Don't cry, Mum," said Ginny, patting her on the back as Mrs. Weasley sobbed into her shoulder. "It's okay..."

"Yeah, don't worry about us," said Ron, permitting his mother to plant a very wet kiss on his cheek, "or about Percy. He's such a prat, it's not really a loss, is it?"

Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever as she enfolded Harry in her arms.

"Promise me you'll look after yourself...stay out of trouble..."

"I always do, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. "I like a quiet life, you know me."

She gave a watery chuckle and stood back, then gave Levina a rib-cracking hug.

"You keep that necklace on, you hear me?" she said in a sniffling voice.

"I will, I will," said Levina; she'd been neglecting her necklace lately, but she knew it wouldn't go over well at school if she got into a fight with Pansy or someone and changed into a werewolf…

Next, Levina embraced Fred tightly, and he gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Don't forget to send me mail, you hear me?" said Levina, and Fred nodded.

"Of course, of course."

"Be good, then, all of you..." said Mrs. Weasley.

Levina stepped into the emerald fire and shouted "Hogwarts!" She had one last fleeting view of the Weasleys' kitchen and Mrs. Weasley's tearful face before the flames engulfed her; spinning very fast, she caught blurred glimpses of other Wizarding rooms, which were whipped out of sight before she could get a proper look; then she was slowing down, finally stopping squarely in the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office. She barely glanced up from her work as she clambered out over the grate.

"Evening, Miss Snowpetal. Try not to get too much ash on the carpet."

"Right," said Levina, just as Harry appeared at her side, straightening his glasses and flattening his hair. Directly after him, Ron came spinning into view. When Ginny had arrived, all four of them trooped out of McGonagall's office and off toward Gryffindor Tower. Levina glanced out of the corridor windows as they passed; the sun was already sinking over grounds carpeted in deeper snow than had lain over the Burrow garden. In the distance, she could see Hagrid feeding Buckbeak in front of his cabin.

"Baubles," said Ron confidently, when they reached the Fat Lady, who was looking rather paler than usual and winced at his loud voice.

"No," she said.

"What d'you mean, 'no' ?"

"That was the password!"

"There is a new password," she said. "And please don't shout."

"But we've been away, how're we supposed to—?"

"Harry! Ginny! Levina!"

Hermione was hurrying toward them, very pink-faced and wearing a cloak, hat, and gloves.

"I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck—I mean Witherwings," she said breathlessly. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

"Yeah," said Ron at once, "pretty eventful, Rufus Scrim—"

"I've got something for you, Harry," said Hermione, neither looking at Ron nor giving any sign that she had heard him. "Oh, hang on—password. Abstinence."

"Precisely," said the Fat Lady in a feeble voice, and as she swung forward to reveal the portrait hole, Levina snickered.

"What's up with her?" asked Harry.

"Overindulged over Christmas, apparently," said Hermione, rolling her eyes as she led the way into the packed common room. "She and her friend Violet drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks down by the Charms corridor. Anyway..."

She rummaged in her pocket for a moment, then pulled out a scroll of parchment with Dumbledore's writing on it.

"Great," said Harry, unrolling it at once to discover that his next lesson with Dumbledore was scheduled for the following night. "I've got loads to tell him—and you. Let's sit down—"

But at that moment there was a loud squeal of "Won-Won!" and Lavender Brown came hurtling out of nowhere and flung herself into Ron's arms. Several onlookers sniggered; Hermione gave a tinkling laugh and said, "There's a table over here...coming, Ginny?"

"No, thanks, I said I'd meet Dean," said Ginny, though Levina could not help noticing that she did not sound very enthusiastic. Leaving Ron and Lavender locked in a kind of vertical wrestling, match, Harry led Hermione and Levina over to the spare table.

"So how was your Christmas?"

"Oh, fine," she shrugged. "Nothing special. How was it at Won-Won's?"

"Hermione," said Levina warningly.

"I'll tell you in a minute," said Harry. "Look, Hermione, can't you—?"

"No, I can't," she said flatly. "So don't even ask."

"I thought maybe, you know, over Christmas—"

"It was the Fat Lady who drank a vat of five-hundred-year-old wine, Harry, not me. So what was this important news you wanted to tell me?"

She looked too fierce to argue with at that moment, so Harry dropped the subject of Ron and recounted all that he had overheard between Draco and Snape. When he had finished, Levina hastily added her story of what Destiny had told her about Eternity.

Hermione sat in thought for a moment and then said, "Don't you think—?"

"—he was pretending to offer help so that he could trick Malfoy into telling him what he's doing?"

"Well, yes," said Hermione.

"Ron's dad and Lupin think so," Harry said grudgingly. "But this definitely proves Malfoy's planning something, you can't deny that."

"No, I can't," she answered slowly.

"And he's acting on Voldemort's orders, just like I said!"

"Hmm... did either of them actually mention Voldemort's name?"

"No," said Levina.

"I'm not sure...Snape definitely said 'your master,' and who else would that be?"

"I don't know," said Hermione, biting her lip. "Maybe his father?"

"Why would he refer to his father as that?" said Levina.

"More importantly, why did Draco mention that he 'had you'?" said Hermione.

"He doesn't!" said Levina crossly. "Would you lot drop that already? I don't know why he said that!"

"Calm down," said Hermione, eyeing Levina suspiciously. "No need to get so worked up…"

Hermione stared across the room, apparently lost in thought, not even noticing Lavender tickling Ron. "How's Lupin?"

"Not great," said Harry, and he told her all about Lupin's mission among the werewolves and the difficulties he was facing. "Have you heard of this Fenrir Greyback?"

"Yes, I have!" said Hermione, sounding startled. "And so have you, Harry!"

"When, History of Magic? You know full well I never listened ..."

"No, no, not History of Magic—Malfoy threatened Borgin with him!" said Hermione. "Back in Knockturn Alley, don't you remember? He told Borgin that Greyback was an old family friend and that he'd be checking up on Borgin's progress!"

Harry gaped at her. "I forgot! But this proves Malfoy is a Death Eater, how else could he be in contact with Greyback and telling him what to do?"

Levina merely groaned; she wasn't sure what she even believed anymore at this point.

"It is pretty suspicious," breathed Hermione. "Unless..."

"Oh, come on," said Harry in exasperation, "you can't get round this one!"

"Well...there is the possibility it was an empty threat."

"You're unbelievable, you are," said Harry, shaking his head. "We'll see who's right...You'll be eating your words, Hermione, just like the Ministry. Oh yeah, I had a row with Rufus Scrimgeour as well..."

And the rest of the evening passed amicably with the three of them abusing the Minister of Magic, for Hermione, like Ron, thought that after all the Ministry had put Harry through the previous year, they had a great deal of nerve asking him for help now.

The new term started next morning with a pleasant surprise for the sixth-years: a large sign had been pinned to the common room notice boards overnight.

_APPARITION LESSONS_

_If you are seventeen years of age, or will turn seventeen on or before the 31st August next, you are eligible for a twelve-week course of Apparition Lessons from a Ministry of Magic Apparition instructor._

_Please sign below if you would like to participate._

_Cost: 12 Galleons._

Harry, Levina, and Ron joined the crowd that was jostling around the notice and taking it in turns to write their names at the bottom. Ron was just taking out his quill to sign after Hermione when Lavender crept up behind him, slipped her hands over his eyes, and trilled, "Guess who, Won-Won?" Levina turned her head and pretended to not notice, but her patience with Lavender was thinning. She hastily scrawled her name and left the common room with Hermione and Harry, but to her surprise, Ron caught up to them fast. Hermione sped ahead of them to talk to Neville.

"So—Apparition," said Ron, his tone making it perfectly plain that Harry and Levina were not to mention what had just happened. "Should be a laugh, eh?"

"I dunno," said Harry. "Maybe it's better when you do it yourself, I didn't enjoy it much when Dumbledore took me along for the ride."

"I forgot you'd already done it...I'd better pass my test first time," said Ron, looking anxious. "Fred and George did,"

"It's not fun," said Levina. "It kind of hurts…And I prefer to use my broom."

"Charlie failed, though, didn't he?" said harry.

"Yeah, but Charlie's bigger than me," Ron held his arms out from his body as though he was a gorilla, "so Fred and George didn't go on about it much...not to his face anyway..."

"When can we take the actual test?"

"Soon as we're seventeen. That's only March for me!"

"Yeah, but you wouldn't be able to Apparate in here, not in the castle..."

"Not the point, is it? Everyone would know I could Apparate if I wanted."

Ron was not the only one to be excited at the prospect of Apparition. All that day there was much talk about the forthcoming lessons; a great deal of store was set by being able to vanish and reappear at will.

"How cool will it be when we can just—" Seamus clicked his ringers to indicate disappearance. "Me cousin Fergus does it just to annoy me, you wait till I can do it back...he'll never have another peaceful moment..."

Lost in visions of this happy prospect, he flicked his wand a little too enthusiastically, so that instead of producing the fountain of pure water that was the object of today's Charms lesson, he let out a hoselike jet that ricocheted off the ceiling and knocked Professor Flitwick flat on his face.

"Harry and Levina have already Apparated," Ron told a slightly abashed Seamus, after Professor Flitwick had dried himself off with a wave of his wand and set Seamus lines ("I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick.") "Dum—er—someone took them. Side-Along-Apparition, you know."

"Whoa!" whispered Seamus, and he, Dean, and Neville put their heads a little closer to hear what Apparition felt like. For the rest of the day, Levina was besieged with requests from the other sixth years to describe the sensation of Apparition. She managed to escape most of them with a translucent color-changing spell, but she had other things on her mind.

She had not seen Draco anywhere yet, and she was thankful for it. What would she say if she ran into him? What _could _she say? _"Hey, thanks for the snog, you prat. By the way, what did you mean by you 'have' me?" _No. It would just be too weird.

And yet…would he open up to her now about his plan? If it somehow involved her, then it was likely that he would tell her something.

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! Wow, that took forever. Many thanks to all reviewers, and I hope you'll continue to read and review, as always!<strong>

**Things to come: Um...I actually don't know yet. It'll be a surprise, I suppose?**


	10. Uncertainties

**Ha! I told you lot I woud update quicker(: **

**Disclaimer: I really wish JK Rowling would publish a book about the Mauraders, with the backstory to everything; it would be a really interesting/entertaining read. Anyone else agree? Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter. Yeah.**

* * *

><p>The next day Harry confided in Levina, Ron and Hermione the task that Dumbledore had set him, though separately, for Hermione still refused to remain in Ron's presence longer than it took to give him a contemptuous look.<p>

"Hmm. It might be difficult for you to worm it out of him, even if you are his favorite student," said Levina. "I mean, not even Dumbledore could get it, you know? What _is _a Horcrux, anyway?"

"You don't know either?" said Harry, clearly disappointed.

Levina shook her head. "Sorry. I'm no expert in Dark Magic, as you probably gathered."

Potions lessons were uncomfortable enough these days, seeing as Harry, Levina, Ron and Hermione had to share a desk. Today, Hermione moved her cauldron around the table so that she was close to Ernie, and ignored both Harry and Ron. To make matters worse, Levina now had to face none other than Draco Malfoy. She was determined to pretend as though he didn't exist, but the task proved difficult, for there was not a single moment when he was not looking her way.

"Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott's Third Law…who can tell me—? But Miss Granger can, of course!"

Hermione recited at top speed: "Golpalott's-Third-Law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-poison-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separale-components."

"Precisely!" beamed Slughorn. "Ten points for Gryffindor! Now, if we accept Golpalott's Third Law as true..."

Levina was going to have to take Slughorn's word for it that Golpalott's Third Law was true, because he had not understood any of it. Nobody apart from Hermione seemed to be following what Slughorn said next, either. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco's own grey eyes still on her, studying her almost. Two seats away from him sat Eternity Russell, who was playing with her feather quill lazily. Levina grit her teeth as her eyes passed over the girl, and she wondered whether she should go along with Eternity's 'plan'. Should she mention what Destiny said, or play along and find out what she might be up to?

"...which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by Scarpin's Revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component which will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements-"

Ron was sitting beside Harry with his mouth half-open, doodling absently on his new copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Ron kept forgetting that he could no longer rely on Hermione to help him out of trouble when he failed to grasp what was going on. Levina rolled her eyes; now that Hermione refused to acknowledge Ron, she was the one that usually had to help him out.

"...and so," finished Slughorn, "I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"

Hermione had left her stool and was halfway towards Slughorn's desk before the rest of the class had realized it was time to move, and by the time Harry, Ron, Levina, and Ernie returned to the table, she had already tipped the contents of her phial into her cauldron and was kindling a fire underneath it.

"It's a shame that the Prince won't be able to help you much with this, Harry," she said brightly as she straightened up. "You have to understand the principles involved this time. No short cuts or cheats!"

Rolling her eyes, Levina uncorked the poison she had taken from Slughorn's desk, which was a garish shade of pink, tipped it into her cauldron and lit a fire underneath it. What was she supposed to do next? She felt slightly lost, staring down at her reflection on the liquid.

"You sure the Prince hasn't got any tips?" Ron muttered to Harry, and Levina nudged him in the ribs.

"You want to make Hermione hate you _more?"_

Harry pulled out his trusty copy of Advanced Potion-Making and turned to the chapter on Antidotes. After a moment of scanning the page for answers, he sighed.

"Nothing," said Harry gloomily.

Hermione was now waving her wand enthusiastically over her cauldron. Unfortunately, they could not copy the spell she was doing because she was now so good at non-verbal incantations that she did not need to say the words aloud. Ernie Macmillan, however, was muttering, 'Specialis revelio!' over his cauldron, which sounded impressive, so Harry and Ron hastened to imitate him. Levina instead began to mimick Hermione's wand movements, watching her carefully out of the corner of her eye. After a while, she realized something peculiar was occurring.

As she was straining to see what Hermione was doing, a startling voice suddenly muttered in her head, _"Accio."_

Levina whipped her head around sharply just in time to see a bottle of something zoom across the table into Hermione's open hand. For a moment, she stared at Hermione with a blank look, wondering if Hermione had just accidentally said it out loud. But then, Hermione accidentally knocked over a vial of some blue potion and—

"_Reparo!"_

Hermione's lips did not move even in the slightest, but the spell had definitely reached Levina's ears. The shattered glass put itself promptly back together and Hermione picked it up to pour it into her cauldron.

_No way…can I read minds? _Thought Levina. Could it be one of her abilities and/or power that Voldemort had wanted to obtain? She turned to Harry, who was frantically flipping through his potions book, and concentrated hard. Nothing happened.

Levina looked as hard as she could at Harry, her eyes narrowed in concentration, but nothing happened. Odd.

At that moment, a second thought occurred to her. Slughorn was moving around various objects on his desk, sorting paperwork into neat little piles. His lips weren't moving, but each time he waved his wand, the parchments sorted themselves into stacks. Levina concentrated hard on looking at him, and, unsurprisingly—

"_Wingardium Leviosa!"_

There was no mistaking that she'd heard Slughorn's voice in her head. _So that's what it is, _thought Levina, returning to her now-overflowing, unattended potion. _I can hear unspoken spells._

While Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hard at work, laboring over their own potions, Levina ignored her own and instead craned her neck around, listening for more spells. She heard several more from Hermione, which she mimicked on her potion a few minutes later, and she even caught a few spells from some of the Slytherins.

When there were three minutes left, Harry suddenly hastened towards the store cupboard and rummaged within it frantically. Levina wondered if he'd reached some sort of revelation as to what he was supposed to do to his potion, but it was surely too late to fix it…

"Two minutes left, everyone!" called Slughorn.

Levina peered down into her cauldron, which was bubbling faintly. It wasn't anywhere close to Hermione's masterpiece at work, but it was better than Ron's and Harry's.

"Time's...UP!" called Slughorn genially. "Well, let's see how you've done! Miss Russell…what have you got for me?"

Slowly, Slughorn moved around the room, examining the various antidotes. Nobody had finished the task, although Hermione was trying to cram a few more ingredients into her bottle before Slughorn reached her. Ron had given up completely, and was merely trying to avoid breathing in the putrid fumes issuing from his cauldron. Harry appeared to have given up, too.

Slughorn reached their table last. He sniffed Ernie's potion and passed on to Ron's with a grimace. He did not linger over Ron's cauldron, but backed away swiftly, retching slightly. He stole a quick glance into Levina's cauldron, made a face, and continued on to Harry's.

"And you, Harry," he said. "What have you got to show me?"

Harry held out his hand, where a strange, shriveled thing was sitting in the palm of it. _What _is _that? _Thought Levina.

Slughorn looked down at it for a full ten seconds. Then he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"You've got a nerve, boy!" he boomed, taking the bezoar and holding it up so that the class could see it. "Oh, you're like your mother...well, I can't fault you...a bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these potions!"

Hermione, who was sweaty-faced and had soot on her nose, looked livid. Her half-finished antidote, comprising fifty-two ingredients including a chunk of her own hair, bubbled sluggishly behind Slughorn, who had eyes for nobody but Harry. Levina merely stared vacantly at the object in his hand, wishing she'd thought of it, too.

"And you thought of a bezoar all by yourself, did you, Harry?" Hermione asked through gritted teeth.

"That's the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs!" said Slughorn happily, before Harry could reply. "Just like his mother, she had the same intuitive grasp of potion-making, it's undoubtedly from Lily he gets it…yes, Harry, yes, if you've got a bezoar to hand, of course that would do the trick…although as they don't work on everything, and are pretty rare, it's still worth knowing how to mix antidotes…"

The only person in the room looking angrier than Hermione was Draco, who had spilled something that looked like cat sick over himself. Normally, Levina would smirk openly at this and mock him from afar, but instead she lowered her eyes to her hands and avoided looking at him. Before Slughorn could say anything else, the bell rang.

"Time to pack up!" said Slughorn. "And an extra ten points to Gryffindor for sheer cheek!"

Still chuckling, he waddled back to his desk at the front of the dungeon.

Harry lingered over his stuff, and Levina had a feeling he was going to stay behind to question Slughorn, she made haste to leave the room. However, halfway down the hallway, she could hear footsteps echoing behind her. She kept her jaw tight, hurried her pace, and refused to turn around, knowing it had to be Draco.

"Levina, wait up!" That wasn't a boy's voice. Levina looked over her shoulder to see Eternity making her way toward her, carrying her bag over one shoulder and panting as she tried to keep up.

_Well, here goes nothing, you sneaky little two-face,_ thought Levina bitterly, coming to a stop so that Eternity could reach her side.

"What do you want?" said Levina coldly; she had decided to take the dark approach, in the event that Eternity wasn't somehow involved in Draco's scheme.

Eternity's smile wavered. "I just wanted to know how your Christmas break was."

"Fine," Levina snapped. She returned to her regular pace heading down the hallway, her head low.

"Did I say something to upset you?" said Eternity, frowning and running to keep up, her red hair dancing behind her.

"Not to me, personally," said Levina, "but have you ever happened to hear of anyone named 'Nicola Levesque'?"

Eternity's footsteps ceased. Levina came to a halt again and turned on her heel to look back at Eternity with dark eyes. Eternity's cobalt-blue eyes were stretched wide.

"How do you know that name?" she demanded.

"Maybe I read it in the _Daily Prophet, _maybe I heard it from somewhere. Does it matter?"

Eternity looked fleetingly over her shoulder, then moved forward so that she and Levina were face to face. Levina took a step back.

"It wasn't me, okay?" said Eternity, her eyes narrowed now. "So don't act like it was."

"It was your mum," said Levina, and Eternity winced. "Your mother murdered Nicola Levesque, and her own husband, and many muggle-borns, and countless other—"

"_Stop it!" _said Eternity crossly. "Don't act like I don't know that already."

"Like mother like daughter," said Levina. "You're mum did those things, so why should I trust that you won't do them, too?"

Eternity sighed and shook her head in annoyance. "Yes, my mother did a lot of stupid things. She was a stupid person…_Is _a stupid person, I mean. But why does that automatically make me one, too? Just because we're related doesn't mean we share the same views. I don't see why you always have to act so suspicious and high-strung around me!"

Levina opened her mouth to object, but no words came out. Apparently the whole ability of making people feel like total jerk-wads ran in the family, considering how Draco did it often… "You and Draco are cousins," she pointed out, although she wasn't sure what that had to do with anything.

"We don't talk much," said Eternity flatly. "I mean, our families don't even talk much. Aunt Bellatrix and Aunt Narcissa don't get along with my mum very well, and since she's been in prison all of these years…" She trailed off.

"So then, who do you live with?" said Levina, beginning to relax. She knew she shouldn't be letting her guard down already, but she couldn't help it; she felt flat-out guilty for the way she acted toward Eternity, especially when she'd done nothing wrong…yet.

"My Uncle Wallace. We don't talk much," she added.

A short, awkward pause commenced. "Nicola was my cousin."

Eternity jerked her head upright to look Levina in the eye. "What? How?"

"My dad's brother married a woman and took her name, in honor of her, I guess," said Levina. "Her last name was Levesque, and her sister's son and daughter were Nicola and Eric Levesque."

"Eric," Eternity echoed in a soft voice. "I remember that name from an old newspaper article I read, one about the whole situation…There was a picture of him in it."

"Do you still have it?" said Levina curiously.

"Yeah, I have all the newspaper articles that have to do with my mum in my luggage trunk," said Eternity. Then she looked slightly embarrassed. "She may be insane, but she's my mother regardless, okay? I hardly remember what she looks like, so it's nice to have reminders. You want the article?"

"Yeah, would you mind if I borrowed it?" said Levina.

"You can have it," said Eternity. "I only honestly want the pictures of Mum from the articles…Really, I've been meaning to burn the rest of them…"

….

Neither Ron nor Hermione was at all sympathetic when Harry told them of this disastrous interview. Hermione was still seething at the way Harry had triumphed without doing the work properly. Ron was resentful that Harry hadn't slipped him a bezoar, too.

"It would've just looked stupid if we'd both done it!" said Harry irritably. "Look, I had to try and soften him up so I could ask him about Voldemort, didn't I? Oh, will you get a grip!" he added in exasperation, as Ron winced at the sound of the name.

"Oh, just forget about the bezoar already!" said Levina. "Were you even listening to what I told you?"

"Yeah, yeah, you can hear people's spells when they're not said out loud," said Harry, waving one hand dismissively. Levina frowned in annoyance.

"Maybe Eternity's right; maybe I should just start hanging out with her instead of people like you," she retorted.

Harry put his hand down, looking slightly contrite. "Sorry…Look, I'm just frustrated right now, all right? I really want to figure out how to get the memory from Slughorn…"

Infuriated by his failure and by Ron, Levina, and Hermione's attitudes, Harry brooded for the next few days over what to do next about Slughorn. When Harry did not question Slughorn again, the Potions master reverted to his usual affectionate treatment of him, and appeared to have put the matter from his mind.

Meanwhile, the Hogwarts library had failed Hermione for the first time in living memory. She was so shocked, she even forgot that she was annoyed at Harry for his trick with the bezoar.

"I haven't found one single explanation of what Horcruxes do!" she told him. "Not a single one! I've been right through the restricted section and even in the most horrible books, where they tell you how to brew the most gruesome potions-nothing! All I could find was this, in the introduction to Magick Most Evil—listen—"of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction" ... I mean, why mention it, then?" she said impatiently, slamming the old book shut; it let out a ghostly wail. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, stuffing it back into her bag.

The snow melted around the school as February arrived, to be replaced by cold, dreary wetness. Purplish-grey clouds hung low over the castle and a constant fall of chilly rain made the lawns slippery and muddy. The upshot of this was that the sixth-years' first Apparition lesson, which was scheduled for a Saturday morning so that no normal lessons would be missed, took place in the Great Hall instead of in the grounds.

When Harry, Levina, and Hermione arrived in the Hall (Ron had come down with Lavender) they found that the tables had disappeared. Rain lashed against the high windows and the enchanted ceiling swirled darkly above them as they assembled in front of Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick and Sprout-the Heads of House—and a small wizard whom Levina took to be the Apparition Instructor from the Ministry. He was oddly colorless, with transparent eyelashes, wispy hair and an insubstantial air, as though a single gust of wind might blow him away.

"Good morning," said the Ministry wizard, when all the students had arrived and the Heads of House had called for quiet. "My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry-Apparition Instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition test in this time—"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" barked Professor McGonagall.

Everybody looked round. Draco had flushed a dull pink; he looked furious as he stepped away from Crabbe, with whom he appeared to have been having a whispered argument. Levina glanced quickly at Snape, who also looked annoyed, though Levina strongly suspected that this was less because of Malfoy's rudeness than the fact that McGonagall had reprimanded one of his house. She looked back at Draco, and for the first time in a while, their eyes met.

It was as though something had passed between the two without words; Draco's cloudy grey eyes bore into her brown, and she immediately snapped them away to look back at the instructor. There was something alarming that she had seen in his eyes: Fear.

"—by which time, many of you may be ready to take your test," Twycross continued, as though there had been no interruption.

"As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts. The Headmaster has lifted this enchantment, purely within the Great Hall, for one hour—"

"—so if you want, you can Apparate out of here and take a trip to Hogsmeade during this hour," whispered Levina in Harry's ear. Harry smirked.

"—so as to enable you to practice. May I emphasize that you will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try.

"I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

There was a great scrambling and jostling as people separated, banged into each other, and ordered others out of their space. The Heads of House moved among the students, marshalling them into position and breaking up arguments.

"Harry, where are you going?" demanded Hermione.

But Harry did not answer; he was moving quickly through the crowd, past the place where Professor Flitwick was making squeaky attempts to position a few Ravenclaws, all of whom wanted to be near the front, past Professor Sprout, who was chivvying the Hufflepuffs into line, until, by dodging around Ernie Macmillan, he managed to position himself right at the back of the crowd, directly behind Draco, who was taking advantage of the general upheaval to continue his argument with Crabbe, standing five feet away and looking mutinous. Levina hastily used a nonverbal color charm to turn herself transparent and followed behind Harry, both curious and annoyed. _I wish he'd stop being such a snoop, _thought Levina. _He needs to stop invading other people's privacy…_

Which, she then realized, was incredibly hypocritical coming from the very girl stalking him to see what he was up to.

"I don't know how much longer, all right?" Draco shot at him, oblivious to Harry standing right behind him. "It's taking longer than I thought it would."

Crabbe opened his mouth, but Draco appeared to second-guess what he was going to say.

"Look, it's none of your business what I'm doing, Crabbe, you and Goyle just do as you're told and keep a lookout!"

"I tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me," Harry said, just loud enough for Draco to hear him.

Draco spun round on the spot, his hand flying to his wand, and Levina's flying to her own, but at that precise moment the four Heads of House shouted, "Quiet!" and silence fell again. Draco turned slowly to face the front. Levina made a deliberate side-step so that she stood in between Harry and Draco, still invisible to their eyes.

"Thank you," said Twycross. "Now then..."

He waved his wand. Old-fashioned wooden hoops instantly appeared on the floor in from of every student.

"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three Ds!" said Twycross. "Destination, Determination, Deliberation!

"Step one: fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination," said Twycross. "In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."

Everybody looked around furtively, to check that everyone else was staring into their hoop, then hastily did as they were told. Levina gazed at the circular patch of dusty floor enclosed by her hoop and tried hard to think of nothing else. This proved difficult.

"Step two," said Twycross, "focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"

Levina glanced around surreptitiously. Harry appeared to be just as lost as she was, although he could not see her, since she was transparent.

"Step three," called Twycross, "and only when I give the command…turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation."

"Levina?"

Levina jerked her head upright from looking at her hoop to see Draco's pale grey eyes locked on hers. She internally squealed in alarm, then lifted one arm to look at it just to check: Yup, the charm had worn off.

"Oh…hey…" said Levina awkwardly. What was she supposed to say or do? Shove him to the ground and beat him to a pulp screaming, 'I have a boyfriend, you prat!'? Maybe it was better to just act as though the kiss had never happened.

"On my command, now…one—"

Levina glanced around again; lots of people were looking positively alarmed at being asked to Apparate so quickly. She was among them; her mind felt fuzzy, and she couldn't concentrate.

"—two—"

Levina tried to fix her thoughts on her hoop again; she had already forgotten what the three Ds stood for.

"—THREE!"

Levina spun on the spot, lost her balance and fell over. She was not the only one. The whole Hall was suddenly full of staggering people; Neville was flat on his back; Ernie Macmillan, on the other hand, had done a kind of pirouetting leap into his hoop and looked momentarily thrilled, until he caught sight of Dean Thomas roaring with laughter at him.

Levina had fallen flat on her face and earned a mouthful of her own hair. As she sat up, groaning, a pale hand reached out in front of her. Levina peered up at it in a daze, then took it and staggered to her feet.

"All right?" said Draco.

"Sure," said Levina woozily. On her right, Harry, who'd almost lost his balance, was glaring at the pair of them.

"Never mind, never mind," said Twycross dryly, who did not seem to have expected anything better. "Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions..."

The second attempt was no better than the first. The third was just as bad. Not until the fourth did anything exciting happen. There was a horrible screech of pain and everybody looked around, terrified, to see Susan Bones of Hufflepuff wobbling in her hoop with her left leg still standing five feet away where she had started.

The Heads of House converged on her; there was a great bang and a puff of purple smoke, which cleared to reveal Susan sobbing, reunited with her leg but looking horrified.

"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts," said Wilkie Twycross dispassionately, "occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continually upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation…thus."

Twycross stepped forwards, turned gracefully on the spot with his arms outstretched and vanished in a swirl of robes, reappearing at the back of the Hall. 'Remember the three Ds,' he said, "and try again…one—two—three—"

But an hour later, Susan's Splinching was still the most interesting thing that had happened. Twycross did not seem discouraged. Fastening his cloak at his neck, he merely said, "Until next Saturday, everybody, and do not forget: Destination. Determination. Deliberation."

With that, he waved his wand, Vanishing the hoops, and walked out of the Hall accompanied by Professor McGonagall. Talk broke out at once as people began moving towards the Entrance Hall.

"How did you do?" asked Ron, hurrying towards Harry. "I think I felt something the last time I tried—a kind of tingling in my feet."

"I expect your trainers are too small, Won-Won," said a voice behind them, and Hermione stalked past, smirking.

"I didn't feel anything," said Harry, ignoring this interruption. "But I don't care about that now—"

"What d'you mean, you don't care …don't you want to learn to Apparate?" said Ron incredulously.

"I'm not fussed, really. I prefer flying," said Harry, glancing over his shoulder to see where Draco was, and speeding up as they came into the Entrance Hall.

"But Apparition looks like more fun," said Levina. "And it's more conventient."

"Yeah, right," said Harry distractedly. "Look, hurry up, will you, there's something I want to do…"

Perplexed, Ron followed Harry and Levina back to Gryffindor Tower at a run. They were temporarily detained by Peeves, who had jammed a door on the fourth floor shut and was refusing to let anyone pass until they set fire to their own pants, but Harry, Levina, and Ron simply turned back and took one of their trusted short cuts. Within five minutes, they were climbing through the portrait hole.

"Are you going to tell me what we're doing, then?" asked Ron, panting slightly.

"Up here," said Harry, and he crossed the common room and led the way through the door to the boys' staircase. Levina followed them, but she tookcare going up the staircase, wondering if they were ever going to put a charm on the stairs that would prevent girls from entering.

Their dormitory was empty. He flung open his trunk and began to rummage in it, while Ron watched impatiently.

"Harry…"

"Malfoy's using Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts. He was arguing with Crabbe just now. I want to know…aha."

He had found it, a folded square of apparently blank parchment, which he now smoothed out and tapped with the tip of his wand.

"Right," said Levina, rolling her eyes.

"You saw it too, Levina! And don't act like I didn't see him help you up," he added, and Levina flushed a bright red. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good…or Malfoy is, anyway."

At once, the Marauder's Map appeared on the parchment's surface. Here was a detailed plan of every one of the castle's floors and, moving around it, the tiny, labeled black dots that signified each of the castle's occupants.

"Help me find Malfoy," said Harry urgently.

He laid the map upon his bed and he and Ron leaned over it, searching.

"There!" said Ron, after a minute or so. "He's in the Slytherin common room, look…with Parkinson and Zabini and Crabbe and Goyle and that Russell girl…"

Harry looked down at the map, clearly disappointed, but rallied almost at once.

"Well, I'm keeping an eye on him from now on," he said firmly. "And the moment I see him lurking somewhere with Crabbe and Goyle keeping watch outside, it'll be on with the old Invisibility Cloak and off to find out what he's—"

He broke off as Neville entered the dormitory, bringing with him a strong smell of singed material, and began rummaging in his trunk for a fresh pair of pants. It was then that Levina decided to leave the room.

Despite his determination to catch Draco out, Harry had no luck at all over the next couple of weeks. Although he consulted the map as often as he could, sometimes making unnecessary visits to the bathroom between lessons to search it, he did not once see Draco anywhere suspicious. Admittedly, he spotted Crabbe and Goyle moving around the castle on their own more often than usual, sometimes remaining stationary in deserted corridors, but at these times Draco was not only nowhere near them, but impossible to locate on the map at all. This was most mysterious. Harry toyed with the possibility that Draco was actually leaving the school grounds, which Levina pointed out was ridiculous, but could not see how he could be doing it, given the very high level of security now operating within the castle. He could only suppose that he was missing Draco amongst the hundreds of tiny black dots upon the map. As for the fact that Draco, Crabbe and Goyle appeared to be going their different ways when they were usually inseparable, these things happened as people got older—Ron, and Hermione, Harry reflected sadly to Levina, were living proof.

"I've also seen that Russell girl moving around a lot more," said Harry to Levina, who nodded casually but was secretly interested. "I see her go down the corridors where Crabbe and Goyle are, but she never stays there…Just passes right by them without stopping. It's strange."

"So are my socks," said Levina, pulling them on over her feet. "Big deal."

February moved towards March with no change in the weather except that it became windy as well as wet. To general indignation, a sign went up on all common-room noticeboards that the next trip into Hogsmeade had been cancelled. Ron was furious.

"It was on my birthday!" he said, "I was looking forward to that!"

"Not a big surprise, though, is it?" said Harry. "Not after what happened to Katie."

She had still not returned from St. Mungo's. What was more, further disappearances had been reported in the Daily Prophet, including several relatives of students at Hogwarts.

"But now all I've got to look forward to is stupid Apparition!" said Ron grumpily. "Big birthday treat…"

Three lessons on, Apparition was proving as difficult as ever, though a few more people had managed to Splinch themselves. Frustration was running high and there was a certain amount of ill-feeling towards Wilkie Twycross and his three Ds, which had inspired a number of nicknames for him, the politest of which were Dog-breath and Dung-head.

"Happy birthday, Ron," said Levina brightly on the first day of March. She didn't bother asking Hermione to come with her and had snuck out before she was even awake, so she could give Ron his present.

She threw the package across on to Ron's bed, where it joined a small pile of them that must, Levina assumed, have been delivered by house-elves in the night.

"Cheers," said Ron drowsily, and as he ripped off the paper Harry got out of bed, opened his own trunk and began rummaging in it for the Marauder's Map, which he hid after every use. He pulled out half the contents of his trunk before he found it hiding beneath the rolled-up socks in which he was still keeping his bottle of lucky potion, Felix Felicis.

"Indeed," said Levina, curling up at the foot of Harry's bed with Lilypad in her lap. Draco's shoelace still hung from her mouth, and occasionally she prodded Levina's hand with it, as though hoping Levina would play with her like she usually would, but Levina waved it away like it wasn't there.

"Right," Harry murmured, taking it back to bed with him, tapping it quietly and murmuring, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," so that Neville, who was passing the foot of his bed at the time, would not hear.

"Nice one, Harry!" said Ron enthusiastically, waving the new pair of Quidditch Keeper's gloves Harry had given him.

"No problem," said Harry absent-mindedly, as he searched the Slytherin dormitory closely for Malfoy. "Hey…I don't think he's in his bed…"

"Neither am I," said Levina.

Ron did not answer; he was too busy unwrapping presents, every now and then letting out an exclamation of pleasure.

"Seriously good haul this year!" he announced, holding up a heavy gold watch with odd symbols around the edge and tiny moving stars instead of hands. "See what Mum and Dad got me? Blimey, I think I'll come of age next year too…Ooh, thanks, Levina!" he added, holding up a new broomstick cleaning kit.

"You're welcome," said Levina cheerfully.

"Cool," muttered Harry, sparing the watch a glance before peering more closely at the map.

"Want one?" said Ron thickly, holding out a box of Chocolate Cauldrons.

"Sure," said Levina, taking one and popping it into her mouth. "Mm. I love these things."

"No thanks," said Harry, looking up. "Malfoy's gone again!"

"Can't have done," said Ron, stuffing a second Cauldron into his mouth as he slid out of bed to get dressed. "Come on. If you don't hurry up you'll have to Apparate on an empty-stomach…might make it easier, I suppose…"

Ron looked thoughtfully at the box of Chocolate Cauldrons, then shrugged and helped himself to a third. "Want more?" he asked Levina.

"'Course," said Levina, taking a couple out absentmindedly as she rummaged through her schoolbag. "Either of you seen my textbook? It's really…"

Levina hesitated for a moment. She dropped the notebook in her hand, paused, and looked up at Harry with a vague expression. A thought had suddenly occurred to her: Here she was fighting to understand her relationship with Fred and Draco when there was a perfectly amazing guy right in the room with her: Harry.

She'd always viewed him as a brother-like figure, but…What was it about the lighting in the room that made him look so…_perfect? _The hair, the bottle-green eyes…Come to think of it, she even loved the scar on his head…It was _so _cool, being in the shape of a lightning bolt…Wasn't her name 'Lightning bolt' in Latin? That proved it! They were meant to be!

Harry tapped the map with his wand, muttered, "Mischief managed," though it hadn't been, and went to get his clothes. Levina flushed a bright red color and squealed. Harry turned to look at her.

"What?"

"Are you going to change in front of me?" she giggled. "I'm a girl, you know!"

Harry stared at her. "'Course not. I was going to dress behind the curtains like I usually do when you're in here."

"Oh, I don't mind," said Levina, attempting to fight another giggle making its way to her mouth. "You can change right here!"

Harry shot a raised-eyebrow look at Ron, but he didn't appear to be listening.

"Right…" said Harry. He moved behind the curtain, taking his clothes with him, and Levina's face burned beet red. _Why _had she never noticed how cute and quirky he was before? And so _attractive_…

Once he was done, Harry emerged fully-dressed and turned to the two of them. "Ready?"

Levina giggled. "Yes!" She eagerly ran forward so that they stood shoulder-to-shoulder. She was finally beginning to understand why all of those girls swooned and sighed over Harry. But she had the best chance out of all of them! Surely he would choose her. Surely.

The two were halfway to the dormitory door when they realized that Ron had not moved, but was leaning on his bedpost, staring out of the rain-washed window with a strangely unfocused look on his face.

"Ron? Breakfast."

"I'm not hungry."

Harry stared at him.

"I thought you just said—?"

"—Well, all right, I'll come down with you," sighed Ron, "but I don't want to eat."

Harry scrutinized him suspiciously.

You've just eaten half a box of Chocolate Cauldrons, haven't you?"

"It's not that," Ron sighed again. "You…you wouldn't understand."

"Fair enough," said Harry, albeit puzzled, as he turned to open the door.

"It's okay, we can go! Just the two of us," said Levina, taking Harry enthusiastically by the arm. She was holding his hand! A jolt of excitement ran through her. "Like a date."

Harry's wide, beautiful green eyes turned to look at her and she giggled again and turned away to cover her face. Before he could say anything, Ron interrupted.

"Harry!" said Ron suddenly.

"What?"

"Harry, I can't stand it!"

"You can't stand what?" asked Harry, looking startled. Ron was rather pale and looked as though he was about to be sick.

"I can't stop thinking about her!" said Ron hoarsely.

"Why does that stop you having breakfast?" Harry asked.

"I don't think she knows I exist," said Ron with a desperate gesture.

"She definitely knows you exist," said Harry, bewildered. "She keeps snogging you, doesn't she?"

At the word snog, Levina giggled fiercely. "Oh, Harry, stop it! You know I wouldn't be able to resist it if you tried."

"Okay, what's wrong with you?" said Harry sharply, turning to look at Levina in alarm.

Ron blinked.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Who are you talking about?" said Harry, turning back to Ron. He kept switching, looking back and forth between them.

"Romilda Vane," said Ron softly, and his whole face seemed to illuminate as he said it, as though hit by a ray of purest sunlight.

They stared at each other for almost a whole minute, before Harry said, "This is a joke, right? You're joking."

"I think…Harry, I think I love her," said Ron in a strangled voice.

"Okay," said Harry, walking up to Ron to get a better look at the glazed eyes and the pallid complexion, "okay…say that again with a straight face."

"I love her," repeated Ron breathlessly. "Have you seen her hair, it's all black and shiny and silky…and her eyes? Her big dark eyes? And her—"

"This is really funny and everything," said Harry impatiently, "but joke's over, all right? Drop it. You, too," he added to Levina.

Levina frowned, deeply wounded. "That's cruel, Harry!" she whimpered. "Making my heart sound like a joke! I love you, don't you get it?"

Harry looked positively horrified at her as she reached forward to grab his arm again, but at that moment Ron struck him hard on the ear with his fist.

Harry reacted instinctively; his wand was out of his pocket and the incantation _"Levicorpus!"_ could be heard in Levina's mind, since he must have thought the spell opposed to saying it verbally.

Ron yelled as his heel was wrenched upwards once more; he dangled helplessly, upside-down, his robes hanging off him.

"What was that for?" Harry bellowed.

"You insulted her, Harry! You said it was a joke!" shouted Ron, who was slowly turning purple in the face as all the blood rushed to his head.

"You attacked Harry!" Levina screamed back at Ron angrily. "You hurt him, you prat!"

"This is insane!" said Harry. "What's got into—?"

Harry trailed off.

"Where did you get those Chocolate Cauldrons?"

"They were a birthday present!" shouted Ron, revolving slowly in midair as he struggled to get free. "I offered you one, didn't I?"

"You just picked them up off the floor, didn't you?"

"They'd fallen off my bed, all right? Let me go!"

"They didn't fall off your bed, you prat, don't you understand? They were mine, I chucked them out of my trunk when I was looking for the map. They're the Chocolate Cauldrons Romilda gave me before Christmas and they're all spiked with love potion!"

But only one word of this seemed to have registered with Ron.

"Romilda?" he repeated. "Did you say Romilda? Harry—do you know her? Can you introduce me?"

"Who cares about her?" Levina retorted. "Harry, you don't have to deal with this! Come on, let's have breakfast together, just you and me—"

"Yeah, I'll introduce you," said Harry, taking Levina uncertainly by the hand. "I'm going to let you down now, okay? And we're going to go on a date," he added to Levina, who squealed with delight and grabbed him into a rib-crushing embrace.

"I always knew you'd pick me!" she said, elated.

He sent Ron crashing back to the floor but Ron simply bounded to his feet again, grinning.

"She'll be in Slughorn's office," said Harry confidently, leading the way to the door.

"Why will she be in there?" asked Ron anxiously, hurrying to keep up.

"Oh, she has extra Potions lessons with him," said Harry, taking Levina by the arm and leading her downstairs.

"Maybe I could ask if I can have them with her?" said Ron eagerly.

"Great idea," said Harry.

Lavender was waiting beside the portrait hole.

"You're late, Won-Won!" she pouted. "I've got you a birthday—"

"Leave me alone," said Ron impatiently, "Harry's going to introduce me to Romilda Vane."

And without another word to her, he pushed his way out of the portrait hole. Levina clutched tightly onto Harry's arm, laying her head on his shoulder. She followed him to Slughorn's office. Maybe after they sorted out whatever was wrong with Ron, Harry would take Levina out on a picnic date down by the lake! She sighed dreamily.

Halfway down the hallway, a familiar face passed by; Draco Malfoy, strolling past in a hurry, stopped dead in his tracks to gawk at them. Levina wondered why he was staring so intently…Was it because she was hanging off of Harry's arm? She shook the idea off. Draco always knew she fancied Harry. Everyone knew.

Harry apparently didn't even notice Draco standing there, but it didn't matter, because he was gone in the next instant, heading down the hallway.

Slughorn answered his door at the first knock, wearing a green velvet dressing-gown and matching nightcap and looking rather bleary-eyed.

"Harry," he mumbled. "This is very early for a call…I generally sleep late on a Saturday…"

"Professor, I'm really sorry to disturb you," said Harry as quietly as possible, while Ron stood on tiptoe, attempting to see past Slughorn into his room, "but my friends Ron and Levina have swallowed a love potion by mistake. You couldn't make them an antidote, could you? I'd take them to Madam Pomfrey, but we're not supposed to have anything from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and, you know…awkward questions…"

"I'd have thought you could have whipped him up a remedy, Harry, an expert potioneer like you?" asked Slughorn.

"Of course he is!" said Levina heatedly, and Slughorn looked at her in slight surprise. "Aren't his eyes beautiful?" she added absentmindedly.

"Er," said Harry, looking down at Levina, "well, I've never mixed an antidote for a love potion, sir, and by the time I get it right Ron might've done something serious—"

Ron moaned, "I can't see her. Harry—is he hiding her?"

"Was this potion within date?" asked Slughorn, now eyeing Ron and Levina with professional interest. "They can strengthen, you know, the longer they're kept."

"That would explain a lot," panted Harry, now positively wrestling with Ron to keep him from knocking Slughorn over. Levina attempted to shove Ron away in annoyance."It's his birthday, Professor," he added imploringly.

"Oh, all right, come in, then, come in," said Slughorn, relenting."I've got the necessary stuff here in my bag, it's not a difficult antidote…"

Ron burst through the door into Slughorn's overheated, crowded study, tripped over a tasseled footstool, regained his balance by seizing Harry around the neck and muttered, "She didn't see that, did she?"

"She's not here yet," said Harry, watching Slughorn opening his potion kit and adding a few pinches of this and that to a small crystal bottle.

"That's good," said Ron fervently. "How do I look?"

"Very handsome," said Slughorn smoothly, handing Ron a glass of clear liquid.

"Yeah, yeah, very handsome," said Levina dismissively. "What about _me_?"

"You're very pretty," said Harry distractedly, his eyes on Ron. Levina giggled intensely."Now drink that up, it's a tonic for the nerves, keep you calm when she arrives, you know,"

"Brilliant," said Ron eagerly, and he gulped the antidote down noisily.

"What about Levina?" said Harry, and at the sound of her name, Levina broke down into a fit of giggles.

"She's a girl. The love potion was meant for a boy, I assume, so it didn't work on her," said Slughorn. "It just made her fall head over heels for the first person she saw."

"No, Harry, I've always loved you!" Levina squealed, unable to take it anymore. Why was he toying with her heart? It was pitiless, so cruel! "Why can't you understand that?" She reached out and seized him on the ears, prepared to snog him right on the spot, but he jerked away from her, his eyes wide.

"Levina, wait!" he said hastily, his face turning a pale pink. "Here, drink this."

"But I don't want to drink anything!" said Levina passionately. "I want _you!"_

"Here, if you drink this," said Harry hastily, "then you can snog me all you want. Okay?"

Levina squealed in delight. "It's deal!" She snatched up the drink and tossed it back as quickly as she could. It didn't taste very pleasant, but it was worth it. She reached out again, arms outstretched and ready to snog Harry straight on the lips when—

_What _was she doing? Levina blinked. She and Harry's faces were barely an inch apart from each other, their eyes locked. She sprung back in surprise, flushed with embarrassment, and tripped over a box of glass bottles.

"Back to normal, then?" said Harry, grinning. Slughorn chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Professor."

"Don't mention it, m'boy, don't mention it," said Slughorn, as Ron collapsed into a nearby armchair, looking devastated.

"Harry?" said Levina, falling onto the couch behind her in horror. "Did I…What was I…?"

"Love potion," said Harry. "Really strong one, too."

What the _hell? _Thought Levina. What had just happened? One minute she was eating chocolate cauldrons, looking for her notebook; the next she was face-to-face with Harry, prepared to…to what? Kiss him?

"Pick-me-up, that's what they need," Slughorn continued, now-bustling over to a table loaded with drinks. "I've got Butterbeer, I've got wine, I've got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead…hmm…meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas…ah well…" he shrugged "…he can't miss what he's never had! Why don't we open it now and celebrate Mr. Weasley's birthday? Nothing like a fine spirit to chase away the pangs of disappointed love…"

He chortled again and Harry joined in.

"There you are, then," said Slughorn, handing Harry and Ron a glass of mead each, before raising his own. He offered Levina one, but she shook her head.

"Not sure if I should drink right now," said Levina, feeling lightheaded.

"No, no, I insist," said Slughorn, passing her the glass. "It should help clear your head a little."

"All right," said Levina, taking it and tossing it back. It tasted funny, but she wasn't fond of many drinks beyond Butterbeer and the occasional Firewhisky.

"Well, a very happy birthday, Ralph—"

"—Ron—" whispered Harry.

"—and may you have many more—"

A sudden horrible, cold sensation overwhelmed Levina and she staggered backwards. Her body became stiff, she dropped her glass, which shattered, and collapsed onto the ground.

"Levina! Ron!"

Levina had no idea if the same thing was happening to Ron, but she could hardly see anything anymore. The room faded in and out violently and her head and limbs jerked from side to side uncontrollably. She could feel foam dribble down the side of her mouth and she felt as though she were choking.

"Professor!" She could hear Harry bellow from miles away. "Do something!"

"What—but—" spluttered Slughorn.

Levina retched several times; the only other time she'd felt worse than this was when she had continuous dreams of her father being tortured, and even then she at least had _some _control over her body. This was different; she could feel her body writhing madly, but there didn't appear to be a conscious left anymore within her. Maybe—just _maybe—_if she could get her necklace off, she could gain more control of the situation. Her hands, which felt more like someone else's than her own and didn't perform the task her brain told them to, frantically grabbed at her neck blindly.

Suddenly, her jaw was wrenched open and something and something with a shriveled-like texture was forced into her mouth. She gave a great tremble, gasped for the first breath of air available to her, and blacked out.

…

To Levina's great relief, the first face she saw come into view when she awoke was Fred's.

"Fred!" said Levina, sitting bolt upright. The second she did, however, a painful, internal throbbing overcame her body and she collapsed back down onto her pillow, wincing.

"Wow, looks like Levina's cure isn't that medicine—it's Fred," said George, grinning.

"What happened?" asked Levina as Fred sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand, gripping it tightly. She noticed, upon examination of her wrist, that there were several fading red marks.

"Sorry," Fred apologized, following her eyes. "When you were out, I think I held your hand to tight." He laughed, but there was a hint of legitimate fear that crept into his voice, which made Levina feel even more sick. He must've been really worried. "Sounds like you were poisoned."

"But Harry saved you!" said Ginny brightly, and Harry hastily began to humbly correct her, but she cut him off. "Oh, stop being modest." She was very pale in the face.

"Ron was, too," said Fred. "It was the drink that Slughorn gave the two of you."

"Slughorn poisoned us?" Levina demanded, shocked.

"No, no…It probably wasn't him," said Hermione softly; she was sitting kneeled by Ron's bed, her eyes locked firmly onto him. She was fiddling nervously with her hair like mad. "He'd have no reason to kill you."

"It could've been the person who gave it to him," said Harry.

"And it sounds like it was meant for Dumbledore, from what we gathered," said Ginny.

"You've been driving me mad, you know that?" said Fred, ruffling her hair. He, like the other Weasleys, was very pale. "You and Ron both."

"Sorry for getting poisoned," said Levina, smiling.

"Oh, and I heard about your newfound love for Harry," Fred added, and Harry flushed red.

"Er…right," said Levina, also embarrassed. "Stupid Romilda…it was all her fault, giving him love-potion chocolate cauldrons."

"That we made," said George, looking slightly ashamed with himself.

Levina shook her head. "Don't be hard on yourself; you can't cure stupid, you know. She would've found another way to get at Harry."

"LEVINA!"

Destiny came charging into the room at top speed, her long black hair dancing behind her, and she grabbed Levina into a tight embrace that cut off her air supply.

"Destiny—choking—" Levina wheezed as Madame Pomfrey came by, glaring at her.

"Don't harass the patients!" she snapped irritably.

But Destiny wasn't listening; fresh tears glistened in her pretty blue eyes and she wiped them away over and over again, only to find they'd been replaced by more. "I was so worried—when Dad told me, I was expecting the worst—J'avais tellement peur—" she broke down sobbing again.

"It's all right, I'm fine!" said Levina, patting Destiny encouragingly on the shoulder.

"Eric n'a même pas été capable de venir—" Destiny sobbed. "Il était trop occupé, Je suis désolé, pardon, mille excuses—"

"Calm down!" said Levina. "I can't understand you when you speak French, remember?"

"Right—right—" Destiny wiped her tears away on her Beauxbatons school outfit sleeve. "Pardon. I meant that Eric wasn't able to come, he was too busy in Romania."

"Understandable," said Levina, nodding as she sank back onto her pillow. "I wouldn't want him to come all the way here just for this."

"If I ever find out who did this," said Fred darkly, gripping Levina's wrist tightly, "I'll jinx them into next week."

And with that last thought, Levina passed out again.

…

On the morning of the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, Harry dropped in on the hospital wing before heading down to the pitch. Ron was very agitated; Madam Pomfrey would not let him go down to watch the match, feeling it would overexcite him.

Levina, too, felt murderous. Since she and Ron couldn't play Quidditch, McLaggen of all people had taken Ron's place, and she felt ready to snap his neck. Her replacement was a quiet second-year Gryffindor that she didn't know the name of…The girl looked very small, but Harry said she packed a decent punch.

"It's not fair," groaned Levina. "I get poisoned, and then can't play Quidditch? What could be worse?"

"Yeah, well you're not well enough to play," said Harry reasonably.

"I feel fine!" Levina objected.

"So how's McLaggen shaping up?" Ron asked Harry nervously, apparently forgetting that he had already asked the same question twice.

"I've told you," said Harry patiently, "he could be world-class and I wouldn't want to keep him. He keeps trying to tell everyone what to do; he thinks he could play every position better than the rest of us. I can't wait to be shot of him. And speaking of getting shot of people," Harry added, getting to his feet and picking up his Firebolt, "will you stop pretending to be asleep when Lavender comes to see you? She's driving me mad as well."

"What?" Levina demanded, turning to glare at Ron.

"Oh," said Ron, looking sheepish. "Yeah. All right."

"If you don't want to go out with her anymore, just tell her," said Harry.

"Yeah...well...it's not that easy, is it?" said Ron. He paused. "Hermione going to look in before the match?" he added casually.

"No, she's already gone down to the pitch with Ginny."

"Oh," said Ron, looking rather glum. "Right. Well, good luck. Hope you hammer McLag—I mean Smith."

"I'll try," said Harry, shouldering his broom.

"Good luck," said Levina halfheartedly, sinking back against her pillow.

"See you after the match."

It took her a little while, as she wanted to go watch the match, but eventually Levina sank back into sleep. When she awoke, she was surprised to find that, in the bed next to her, was none other than Harry Potter. What had happened? Surely they hadn't lost…

"Nice of you to drop in," said Ron, grinning.

Harry had apparently just woken up; he blinked and looked around.

"Oh…hi, Harry. How was the match?" said Levina, yawning.

Harry didn't answer her. "What happened?" he demanded to Madam Pomfrey.

"Cracked skull," said Madam Pomfrey, bustling up and pushing him back against his pillows. "Nothing to worry about, I mended it at once, but I'm keeping you in overnight. You shouldn't overexert yourself for a few hours."

"I don't want to stay here overnight," said Harry angrily, sitting up and throwing back his covers. "I want to find McLaggen and kill him."

"I'm afraid that would come under the heading of 'overexertion,'" said Madam Pomfrey, pushing him firmly back onto the bed and raising her wand in a threatening manner. "You will stay here until I discharge you, Potter, or I shall call the Headmaster."

She bustled back into her office, and Harry sank back into his pillows, fuming.

"D'you know how much we lost by?" he asked Ron through clenched teeth.

"Well, yeah I do," said Ron apologetically. "Final score was three hundred and twenty to sixty."

"What!" said Levina, sitting bolt upright. "You're kidding!"

"Nope; McLaggen hit Harry with a Bludger," said Ron.

"McLaggen—_Why the hell did he have a Beater's bat?" _Levina snarled as his words set in.

"Brilliant," said Harry savagely. "Really brilliant! When I get hold of McLaggen—"

"You don't want to get hold of him, he's the size of a troll," said Ron reasonably.

"Who cares? I'll tear him limb from limb," said Levina through gritted teeth.

"Personally, I think there's a lot to be said for hexing him with that toenail thing of the Prince's. Anyway, the rest of the team might've dealt with him before you get out of here, they're not happy..."

There was a note of badly suppressed glee in Ron's voice; Levina could tell he was nothing short of thrilled that McLaggen had messed up so badly.

"I could hear the match commentary from here," said Ron, his voice now shaking with laughter. "I hope Luna always commentates from now on...Loser's Lurgy..."

"You could hear it?" said Levina, disappointed. "Man! Why did you let me fall asleep?"

"Not my fault; you crashed before the match even began, I didn't even get to talk to you."

"Oh…Sorry."

"Ginny came in to visit while you were unconscious," said Ron, after a long pause, and Harry's butter expression changed. "She reckons you only just arrived on time for the match. How come? You left here early enough."

"Oh..." said Harry. "Yeah...well, I saw Malfoy sneaking off with a couple of girls who didn't look like they wanted to be with him, and that's the second time he's made sure he isn't down on the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the school; he skipped the last match too, remember?"

"He was with two girls?" Levina repeated. For no apparent reason she could think of, an unpleasant, acidic feeling stirred in her stomach.

Harry sighed. "Yeah, not sure when he became a ladies' man…Wish I'd followed him now, the match was such a fiasco..."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron sharply. "You couldn't have missed a Quidditch match just to follow Malfoy, you're the Captain!"

"I want to know what he's up to," said Harry. "And don't tell me its all in my head, not after what I overheard between him and Snape—"

"I never said it was all in your head," said Ron, hoisting himself up on an elbow in turn and frowning at Harry, "but there's no rule saying only one person at a time can be plotting anything in this place! You're getting a bit obsessed with Malfoy, Harry. I mean, thinking about missing a match just to follow him..."

"I want to catch him at it!" said Harry in frustration. "I mean, where's he going when he disappears off the map?"

"I dunno...Hogsmeade?" suggested Ron, yawning.

"I've never seen him going along any of the secret passageway on the map. I thought they were being watched now anyway?"

"Well then, I dunno," said Ron.

"Just leave it be," said Levina, shaking her head. Her mind was still stuck on the prospect of Draco hanging around two girls…were they Slytherin? Had he given up on trying to be Levina's friend and moved on?

Silence fell between them. Levina stared up at the circle of lamp light above him, thinking...

There was a low, rumbling snore from Ron's bed. After a while Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, this time wearing a thick dressing gown. Levina closed her eyes tightly and listened to all the curtains closing themselves as she waved her wand. The lamps dimmed, and she returned to her office; she heard the door click behind her and knew that she was off to bed. Even with the curtains closed, Levina had a feeling she wouldn't be able to sleep.

Suddenly, out of the corner of Levina's eye, Harry sat bolt upright, his bandage turban askew.

_Is he asleep? _Levina thought vaguely. Perhaps he was just a restless sleeper like her…

"Kreacher?" said Harry tentatively.

There was a very loud crack, and the sounds of scuffling and squeaks filled the silent room. Ron awoke with a yelp, and Levina fell backwards off the bed in alarm, taking her covers with her.

"What's going—?"

Harry pointed his wand hastily at the door of Madam Pomfrey's office and muttered, "Muffliato!" so that she would not come running. Levina scrambled back up onto her bed, bemused, to look down upon the scene.

Two house-elves were rolling around on the floor in the middle of the dormitory, one wearing a shrunken maroon jumper and several woolly hats, the other, a filthy old rag strung over his hips like a loincloth. Then there was another loud bang, and Peeves the Poltergeist appeared in midair above the wrestling elves.

"I was watching that, Potty!" he told Harry indignantly, pointing at the fight below, before letting out a loud cackle. "Look at the ickle creatures squabbling, bitey bitey, punchy punchy -"

"Kreacher will not insult Harry Potter in front of Dobby, no he won't, or Dobby will shut Kreacher's mouth for him!" cried Dobby in a high-pitched voice.

"—kicky, scratchy!" cried Peeves happily, now pelting bits of chalk at the elves to enrage them further. "Tweaky, pokey!"

"Peeves, cut that out!" Levina snarled up at him. "Harry, what's—?"

"Kreacher will say what he likes about his master, oh yes, and what a master he is, filthy friend of Mudbloods, oh, what would poor Kreacher's mistress say—?"

Exactly what Kreacher's mistress would have said they did not find out, for at that moment Dobby sank his knobbly little fist into Kreacher's mouth and knocked out half of his teeth. Harry, Levina, and Ron both leapt out of their beds and wrenched the two elves apart, though they continued to try and kick and punch each other, egged on by Peeves, who swooped around the lamp squealing, "Stick your fingers up his nosey, draw his cork and pull his earsies—"

Harry aimed his wand at Peeves and said, "Langlock!" Peeves clutched at his throat, gulped, then swooped from the room making obscene gestures but unable to speak, owing to the fact that his tongue had just glued itself to the roof of his mouth.

"Nice one," said Ron appreciatively, lifting Dobby into the air so that his flailing limbs no longer made contact with Kreacher. "That was another Prince hex, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," said Harry, twisting Kreacher's wizened arm into a half nelson. "Right—I'm forbidding you to fight each other! Well, Kreacher, you're forbidden to fight Dobby. Dobby, I know I'm not allowed to give you orders—"

"Dobby is a free house-elf and he can obey anyone he likes and Dobby will do whatever Harry Potter wants him to do!" said Dobby, tears now streaming down his shriveled little face onto his jumper.

"Okay then," said Harry, and he, Levina, and Ron released the elves, who fell to the floor but did not continue fighting.

"Master called me?" croaked Kreacher, sinking into a bow even as he gave Harry a look that plainly wished him a painful death.

"Yeah, I did," said Harry, glancing toward Madam Pomfrey's office door to check that the Muffliato spell was still working; there was no sign that she had heard any of the commotion. "I've got a job for you."

Levina raised her eyebrows at him. "A 'job'?"

"Kreacher will do whatever Master wants," said Kreacher, sinking so low that his lips almost touched his gnarled toes, "because Kreacher has no choice, but Kreacher is ashamed to have such a master, yes—"

"Shut up, Kreacher," snapped Levina.

"The dirty half-breed is addressing Kreacher, she is barking orders, oh yes—" said Kreacher through gritted teeth.

"And she can all she wants," said Harry, putting out an arm to stop Levina, who had raised fists.

"Dobby will do it, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, his tennis-ball-sized eyes still swimming in tears. "Dobby would be honored to help Harry Potter!"

"Come to think of it, it would be good to have both of you," said Harry. "Okay then…I want you to tail Draco Malfoy."

Ignoring the look of mingled surprise and exasperation on Ron and Levina's faces, Harry went on, "I want to know where he's going, who he's meeting, and what he's doing. I want you to follow him around the clock."

"Not this again," Levina groaned.

"Yes, Harry Potter!" said Dobby at once, his great eyes shining with excitement. "And if Dobby does it wrong, Dobby will throw himself off the topmost tower, Harry Potter!"

"Don't do that," said Levina quickly.

"There won't be any need for that," said Harry hastily.

"Master wants me to follow the youngest of the Malfoys?" croaked Kreacher. "Master wants me to spy upon the pure-blood great-nephew of my old mistress?"

"That's the one," said Harry. "And you're forbidden to tip him off, Kreacher, or to show him what you're up to, or to talk to him at all, or to write him messages or...or to contact him in any way. Got it?"

After a moment or two, Kreacher bowed deeply again and said, with bitter resentment, "Master thinks of everything, and Kreacher must obey him even though Kreacher would much rather be the servant of the Malfoy boy, oh yes..."

"You can marry him later," said Levina, and Kreacher shot her a dirty look. "But in the meantime, shut up."

"That's settled, then," said Harry. "I'll want regular reports, but make sure I'm not surrounded by people when you turn up. Ron and Hermione are okay. And don't tell anyone what you're doing. Just stick to Malfoy like a couple of wart plasters."

Levina just sighed and leaned back against her pillow, annoyed. Was Harry ever going to just drop this thing? It was beginning to get out of hand…

* * *

><p><strong>Man this chapter was long! I hope this holds you guys for a while, because I've got a lot of work to do lately...I'll update as soon as I can, though!<strong>

**Things to come: Eric's sister, Dobby, and more.**


	11. Suspicion

'**Ello, everyone! Sorry this chapter took a while—when I finished, I realized I had made it **_**way**_** too long, so I had to divide it up into two chapters. The next one should be up soon (:**

**Disclaimer: Anyone seen Hunger Games? I finally did, and I loved it! I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own the Hunger Games.**

* * *

><p>Harry, Levina, and Ron left the hospital wing first thing on Monday morning, restored to full health by the ministrations of Madam Pomfrey and now able to enjoy the benefits of having been knocked out and poisoned, the best of which was that Hermione was friends with Ron again. Hermione even escorted them down to breakfast, bringing with her the news that Ginny had argued with Dean.<p>

"What did they row about? Harry asked, trying to sound casual but failing as they turned onto a seventh-floor corridor that was deserted but for a very small girl who had been examining a tapestry of trolls in tutus. Another girl stood beside her, arguing with her about something. However, the first girl looked terrified at the sight of the approaching sixth years and dropped the heavy brass scales she was carrying. The second girl yelped and jumped back in alarm.

Levina raised her eyebrows at the girl, puzzled; first years were usually pretty afraid of teachers like Snape and the bullying older students, but it wasn't like they had jumped out at her and tried to scare her.

"It's all right!" said Hermione kindly, hurrying forward to help her. "Here…"

She tapped the broken scales with her wand and said, "Reparo." The girl did not say thank you, but remained rooted to the spot as they passed and watched them out of sight; the girl next to her continued her argument with her, but Levina noticed she looked kind of familiar…

"Rude much?" Levina said as they walked away.

"I swear they're getting smaller," said Ron.

"Never mind her," said Harry, a little impatiently. "What did Ginny and Dean row about, Hermione?"

"Oh, Dean was laughing about McLaggen hitting that Bludger at you," said Hermione.

"It must've looked funny," said Ron reasonably.

"It didn't look funny at all!" said Hermione hotly. "It looked terrible and if Coote and Peakes hadn't caught Harry he could have been very badly hurt!"

Levina smiled proudly. "That's my boys," she said, and when the others shot her a look she said, "What? They're improving. Not Fred and George good, but improving…"

"Yeah, well, there was no need for Ginny and Dean to split up over it," said Harry, still trying to sound casual. "Or are they still together?"

"Yes, they are—but why are you so interested?" asked Hermione, giving Harry a sharp look.

"I know why," said Levina under her breath, grinning.

"I just don't want my Quidditch team messed up again!" he said hastily, but Hermione continued to look suspicious, and he seemed very relieved when she changed the subject direction.

"So, Levina," said Hermione, turning eye Levina with a very distrustful look.

"What did I do this time?" sighed Levina.

"Well, not so much something _you _did," said Hermione, moving to catch up to Levina's side, "but someone else."

"What?" said Levina, not altogether very interested.

"When I would come to visit Ro—I mean, all of you," she hastily added with a small blush, "in the hospital wing, I saw someone else come and visit your bed."

Levina's heart stopped momentarily, and although her lips moved to form the question, she knew it was already answered in her head. "Who?"

"Malfoy," said Hermione, and Levina tried her best to maneuver her expression into a poker face. Beside her, Harry's eyes shot up from the ground in interest. "He was there almost every day, you should know, always at _your _bed. I mean, every time I came in and found him, he would get up and leave in a hurry, but he was always there, just…watching you."

Levina swallowed hard. "Creep," she managed to croak out, but she hadn't altogether meant the word. Draco Malfoy visited her in the hospital wing _every day? _"Did he ever say anything?"

"Nope. I'd walk in and he'd be sitting on a stool beside your bed, hunched over, looking at your face."

Levina ignored the skeptical look Hermione was shooting her and attempted to clear the thoughts out of her mind. "Probably nothing," she mumbled dumbly, unable to think of anything else to say. Harry opened his mouth to say something, surely to criticize both her and Draco and say that it was part of his 'big plan', but at that moment someone hollered at them down the hallway.

"Harry!" said Luna, approaching their group.

"Oh, hi, Luna."

"I went to the hospital wing to find you," said Luna, rummaging in her bag. "But they said you'd left..."

She thrust what appeared to be a green onion, a large spotted toadstool, and a considerable amount of what looked like cat litter into Ron's hands, finally pulling out a rather grubby scroll of parchment that she handed to Harry.

"...I've been told to give you this."

It was a small roll of parchment, which Levina recognized at once as another invitation to a lesson with Dumbledore.

"Tonight," he told Ron, Levina, and Hermione, once he had unrolled it.

"Nice commentary last match!" said Ron to Luna as she took back the green onion, the toadstool, and the cat litter. Luna smiled vaguely.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" she said. "Everyone says I was dreadful."

"No, I'm serious!" said Ron earnestly. "I can't remember enjoying commentary more!"

"I wish I had heard it; sorry I missed the match, Luna," said Levina.

"That's all right. Oh, and this is for you," she added, pulling out a few copies of _The Daily Prophet _and handing them to Levina. "Eternity said you wanted them," she added.

"Eternity?" said Levina, taking the newspapers from Luna. "You know her?"

"Oh yes," said Luna happily, while Harry peered over his shoulder at them suspiciously. "She's fairly nice, but she usually only talks to me in the library or in deserted areas…I suppose she doesn't want to be seen with someone like me," she added vaguely. "Most people don't."

"I don't think it's that," said Levina hastily. "She just doesn't…er…want to be seen with anyone from another House."

"Yes…I believe she's mentioned that before. She said the Slytherins don't care for her much."

"What is this, by the way?" said Ron, interrupting them, holding the onionlike object up to eye level.

"Oh, it's a Gurdyroot," she said, stuffing the cat litter and the toadstool back into her bag. "You can keep it if you like, I've got a few of them. They're really excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies."

And she walked away, leaving Ron chortling, still clutching the Gurdyroot.

"You know, she's grown on me, Luna," he said, as they set off again for the Great Hall. "I know she's insane, but it's in a good—"

He stopped talking very suddenly. Levina followed his eyes to see Lavender Brown was standing at the foot of the marble staircase looking thunderous.

"Hi," said Ron nervously.

"C'mon," Harry muttered to Hermione, and they sped past, though not before they had heard Lavender say, "Why didn't you tell me you were getting out today? And why was she with you?"

Ron looked both sulky and annoyed when he appeared at breakfast half an hour later, and though he sat with Lavender, Levina did not see them exchange a word all the time they were together. Hermione was acting as though she was quite oblivious to all of this, but once or twice Harry saw an inexplicable smirk cross her face. All that day she seemed to be in a particularly good mood, and that evening in the common room she even consented to look over (in other words, finish writing) Harry's and Levina's Herbology essays, something she had been resolutely refusing to do up to this point, because she had known that Harry would then let Ron copy his work.

"Finally done!" said Levina, sighing in relief and allowing Lilypad to curl up into her lap.

"Thanks a lot, Hermione," said Harry, giving her a hasty pat on the back as he checked his watch and saw that it was nearly eight o'clock. "Listen, I've got to hurry or I'll be late for Dumbledore..."

"Have fun," said Levina, waving to him as he climbed out through the portrait hole. She reached into her back and pulled out the newspaper articles from Eternity, which she unrolled to examine. The headline on the front read: _LEVESQUE GIRL MURDERED BY NOTORIOUS LYDIA RUSSELL. _

Levina scanned the article, reading through the story. From eye-witnesses and questions, the story said that apparently Lydia had cornered the family when Eric was barely three or four. She confronted them at their own house and targeted the two siblings. Nicola was slain on the spot, but according to Eric, she told him to run right before her life was taken. Their mother, out of _supposed_ grief, soon left Eric and his father and returned to live with the Sirens once again. She hated being nosy, but a part of her desperately wanted to ask Eric about that.

A moving picture of Eric was attached; he was very handsome, even as a little kid, with his gorgeous golden eyes and dark black hair. In the picture, he was standing next to who Levina assumed was his father, for he had the same dark black hair as Eric and the same nose. Neither looked particularly happy; Eric kept wiping his watering eyes on his little sleeve, and his father looked on coldly into the distance.

On the ground beside her, Lilypad turned over in her sleep and mewed softly. Levina yawned, folded up the newspaper, and scooped Lilypad up into her lap, thinking hard. Her family was so messed up, it was a wonder any of them were still alive: Eric and Destiny were half-siren, she was a werewolf with strange abilities…

Levina wondered what it would be like to be normal for once…

But then…where would all of the excitement be?

…

Harry wracked his brains over the next week as to how he was to persuade Slughorn to hand over the true memory, but it seemed to Levina that nothing in the nature of a brain wave occurred and he was reduced to doing what he did increasingly these days when at a loss: poring over his Potions book, hoping that the Prince would have scribbled something useful in a margin, as he had done so many times before.

"You won't find anything in there," said Hermione firmly, late on Sunday evening.

"Don't start, Hermione," said Harry. "If it hadn't been for the Prince, Ron and Levina wouldn't be sitting here now."

"He would if you'd just listened to Snape in our first year," said Hermione dismissively.

"Lay off him, Hermione," said Levina sharply. "I for one am glad I'm alive."

Harry ignored Hermione, and Levina sank low into her seat, yawning. They were sitting beside the fire in the common room; the only other people awake were fellow sixth-years. There had been a certain amount of excitement earlier when they had come back from dinner to find a new sign on the notice board that announced the date for their Apparition Test. Those who would be seventeen on or before the first test date, the twenty-first of April, had the option of signing up for additional practice sessions, which would take place (heavily supervised) in Hogsmeade.

Ron had panicked on reading this notice; he had still not managed to Apparate and feared he would not be ready for the test. Hermione, who had now achieved Apparition twice, was a little more confident, but Levina was horribly frightened by the idea of losing a body part.

"At least you can Apparate, though!" said Ron tensely to Harry, who wasn't old enough to take the test. "You'll have no trouble come July!"

"I've only done it once," Harry reminded him; he had finally managed to disappear and rematerialize inside his hoop during their previous lesson.

Having wasted a lot of time worrying aloud about Apparition, Levina was now struggling to finish a viciously difficult essay for Snape, scrawling as fast as she could onto her parchment. Every so often, she would hold her quill up to her face, tapping it against her cheek as she thought hard.

"I'm telling you, the stupid Prince isn't going to be able to help you with this, Harry!" said Hermione, more loudly. "There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse, which is illegal—"

"Yeah, I know that, thanks," said Harry, not looking up from the book. "That's why I'm looking for something different. Dumbledore says Veritaserum won't do it, but there might be something else, a potion or a spell..."

"You're going about it the wrong way," said Hermione. "Only you can get the memory, Dumbledore says. That must mean you can persuade Slughorn where other people can't. It's not a question of slipping him a potion, anyone could do that—"

"How do you spell 'belligerent'?" said Ron, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment. "It can't be B—U—M—"

"No, it isn't," said Hermione, pulling Ron's essay toward her. "And 'augury' doesn't begin O—R—G either. What kind of quill are you using? You have ink on your face, by the way," she added to Levina, who hastily rubbed at her cheek but smeared the ink worse.

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Checking ones, but I think the charm must be wearing off."

"Yes, it must," said Hermione, pointing at the title of his essay, "because we were asked how we'd deal with Dementors, not 'Dugbogs', and I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either."

"Ah no!" said Ron, staring horror-struck at the parchment. "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"

"It's okay, we can fix it," said Hermione, pulling the essay toward her and taking out her wand.

"I love you, Hermione," said Ron, sinking back in his chair, rubbing his eyes wearily.

Levina jerked her head upright and looked between the two with a very wide smirk, but Hermione merely turned faintly pink and said, "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."

"I won't," said Ron into his hands. "Or maybe I will, then she'll ditch me."

"Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it?" asked Harry.

"You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you?" said Ron. "You and Cho just—"

"Sort of fell apart, yeah," said Harry.

"Wish that would happen with me and Lavender," said Ron gloomily, watching Hermione silently tapping each of his misspelled words with the end of her wand, so that they corrected themselves on the page. "But the more I hint I want to finish it, the tighter she holds on. It's like going out with the giant squid."

"Going out with the giant squid might be easier," said Levina, still attempting to wipe off the ink on her face.

"There," said Hermione, some twenty minutes later, handing back Ron's essay.

"Thanks a million," said Ron. "Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?"

Finally, Levina managed to wipe the ink on her face away. She returned to her paper, scribbled something, and looked up from her paper; they were the only four people left in the room. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and Ron scratching out one last paragraph on dementors using Hermione's quill. Harry had just closed the Half-Blood Prince's book, yawning, when—

Crack.

Hermione let out a little shriek; Ron spilled ink all over his freshly completed essay, Levina toppled sideways from her chair, and Harry said, "Kreacher!"

The house-elf bowed low and addressed his own gnarled toes. "Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so Kreacher has come to give—"

Crack.

Dobby appeared alongside Kreacher, his tea-cozy hat askew.

"Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter!" he squeaked, casting Kreacher a resentful look. "And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"

"What is this?" asked Hermione, still looking shocked by these sudden appearances. "What's going on, Harry?"

Harry hesitated before answering, Levina suspected because she would take it the same way Levina and Ron had, and call him obsessive.

"Well...they've been following Malfoy for me," said Harry.

"Night and day," croaked Kreacher.

"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!" said Dobby proudly, swaying where he stood.

Hermione looked indignant.

"You haven't slept, Dobby? But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to—"

"No, of course I didn't," said Harry quickly. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?" he hastened to ask, before Hermione could intervene again.

"Master Malfoy moves with a nobility that befits his pure blood," croaked Kreacher at once. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of—"

"No one needs to know how he walks, Kreacher," said Levina.

"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" squeaked Dobby angrily. "A bad boy who—who—"

He shuddered from the tassel of his tea cozy to the toes of his socks and then ran at the fire, as though about to dive into it. Harry caught him around the middle and held him fast. For a few seconds Dobby struggled, then went limp.

"Thank you, Harry Potter," he panted. "Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters."

Harry released him; Dobby straightened his tea cozy and said defiantly to Kreacher, "But Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house-elf!"

"Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy," Harry told Kreacher. "Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going."

Kreacher bowed again, looking furious, and then said, "Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of—"

"Dobby, you tell me," said Harry, cutting across Kreacher. "Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"

"Harry Potter, sir," squeaked Dobby, his great orblike eyes shining in the firelight, "the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters—"

"The Room of Requirement!" said Harry, smacking himself hard on the forehead with Advanced Potion-Making. Hermione, Levina, and Ron stared at him. "That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing... whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map—come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron.

"We could always ask Sirius," said Levina.

"I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," said Hermione. "If you need it to be unplottable, it will be."

"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?" said Harry eagerly.

"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible," said Dobby.

"No, it's not," said Harry at once. "Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."

"I don't think it's that simple," said Levina.

"But I don't think you will, Harry," said Hermione slowly. "Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because that stupid Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into."

"There'll be a way around that," said Harry dismissively.

"There has also been a girl hanging around him often, Harry Potter," said Dobby, and Levina lifted her head curiously from her paper.

"What? Who?" said Levina.

"Another Slytherin, Miss, one with red hair and very blue eyes—"

"Eternity?" said Levina, standing up so abruptly that her essay fell from her lap.

"I do not know her name, Miss," Dobby squeaked, "but she and the Malfoy boy argue and bicker, indeed, they do not get along very well."

"Hmm," said Levina, thinking hard. "It's almost as though Eternity wears a mask or something, like you can never tell what her real intentions are."

"You shouldn't trust her," said Harry at once. "If she's been hanging around Malfoy—"

"She and Draco are cousins," said Levina.

Harry turned back to Dobby. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."

"Kreacher's done well too," said Hermione kindly; but far from looking grateful, Kreacher averted his huge, bloodshot eyes and croaked at the ceiling, "The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher, Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear—"

"Get out of it," Harry snapped at him, and Kreacher made one last deep bow and Disapparated.

"You'd better go and get some sleep too, Dobby."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" squeaked Dobby happily, and he too vanished.

"How good is this?" said Harry enthusiastically, turning to Ron and Hermione the moment the room was elf-free again. "We know where Malfoy's going! We've got him cornered now!"

"Yeah, it's great," said Ron glumly, who was attempting to mop up the sodden mass of ink that had recently been an almost completed essay. Hermione pulled it toward her and began siphoning the ink off with her wand. Levina looked between the two with a smile, relieved that at least they were finally doing well. Their complex relationship was kind of…cute.

"But what's all this about him going up there with a 'variety of students'?" said Hermione. "How many people are in on it? You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he's doing..."

"Yeah, that is weird," said Harry, frowning. "I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't Crabbe's business what he was doing...so what's he telling all these...all these..."

"Girls?" said Levina in a slightly more acidic voice than she had intended.

Harry's voice tailed away; he was staring at the fire. "God, I've been stupid," Harry said quietly. "It's obvious, isn't it? There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon...he could've nicked some any time during that lesson..."

"Nicked what?" said Ron.

"Polyjuice Potion. He stole some of the Polyjuice Potion Slughorn showed us in our first Potions lesson...There aren't a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy...it's just Crabbe and Goyle as usual...yeah, it all fits!" said Harry, jumping up and starting to pace in front of the fire. "They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to…but he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got them taking Polyjuice to make them look like other people...those two girls I saw him with when he missed Quidditch—ha! Crabbe and Goyle!"

Levina's sour mood changed instantly. "Crabbe and Goyle?" she repeated with a smirk. Then she burst into laughter so loud that it hurt and she clutched her sides, her eyes watering. "That's hilarious, that is!"

"Do you mean to say," said Hermione in a hushed voice, "that that little girl whose scales I repaired—?"

"Yeah, of course!" said Harry loudly, staring at her. "Her and the girl arguing with her. Of course! Malfoy must've been inside the room at the time, so she-what am I talking about?—he dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out, because there was someone there! And there was that girl who dropped the toadspawn too! We've been walking past him all the time and not realizing it!"

"He's got Crabbe and Goyle transforming into girls?" guffawed Ron. "Blimey...no wonder they don't look too happy these days. I'm surprised they don't tell him to stuff it..."

"Well, they wouldn't, would they, if he's shown them his Dark Mark?" said Harry.

"Hmmm...the Dark Mark we don't know exists," said Hermione skeptically, rolling up Ron's dried essay before it could come to any more harm and handing it to him.

"We'll see," said Harry confidently, and Levina realized that she had begun to subconsciously finger the scars from Umbridge on her arm.

"Yes, we will," Hermione said, getting to her feet and stretching. "But, Harry, before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first. And I don't think you should forget," she heaved her bag onto her shoulder and gave him a very serious look, "that what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn. Goodnight."

Harry watched her go, looking slightly disgruntled. Once the door to the girls' dormitories had closed behind her he rounded on Ron and Levina.

"What d'you think?"

"Wish I could Disapparate like a house-elf," said Ron, staring at the spot where Dobby had vanished. "I'd have that Apparition Test in the bag."

"Although I think this is a great discovery and all," said Levina, getting up from her seat and heading up the stairs behind Hermione, "I still don't think that Draco's the worst person to ever walk this earth."

"Well, yeah, that would be Voldemort," said Harry. "But I still wish you'd stop acting all buddy-buddy with him, Levina. I still believe he's just toying with you."

Levina did not sleep well that night. She lay awake for what felt like hours, thinking of Draco. His voice from before still haunted her…How he said he 'had' her…Was she part of his plan? Was Harry right? Could she really just be allowing herself to succumb to his sudden good nature and desire to be friends…or more? The thought made her sick.

Harry was in a state of great anticipation over breakfast the following morning; he had a free period before Defense Against the Dark Arts and was apparently determined to spend it trying to get into the Room of Requirement. Hermione was rather ostentatiously showing no interest in his whispered plans for forcing entry into the room, which clearly irritated Harry, because he apparently thought she might be a lot of help if she wanted to.

"Look," he said quietly, leaning forward and putting a hand on the Daily Prophet, which she had just removed from a post owl, to stop her from opening it and vanishing behind it. "I haven't forgotten about Slughorn, but I haven't got a clue how to get that memory off him, and until I get a brain wave why shouldn't I find out what Malfoy's doing?"

"I've already told you, you need to persuade Slughorn," said Hermione. "It's not a question of tricking him or bewitching him, or Dumbledore could have done it in a second. Instead of messing around outside the Room of Requirement," she jerked the Prophet out from under Harry's hand and unfolded it to look at the front page," you should go and find Slughorn and start appealing to his better nature."

"Anyone we know—?" asked Ron, as Hermione scanned the headlines.

"Yes!" said Hermione, causing Levina, Harry, and Ron to gag on their breakfast. "But it's all right, he's not dead—it's Mundungus, he's been arrested and sent to Azkaban! Something to do with impersonating an Inferius during an attempted burglary…and someone called Octavius Pepper has vanished…oh, and how horrible, a nine-year-old boy has been arrested for trying to kill his grandparents, they think he was under the Imperius Curse...And what?" Hermione paused and stared at her paper, horrified.

"What? A death?" said Levina immediately.

"No, not anything like that…" Hermione trailed off. "Lydia Russell escaped from Azkaban."

A horrible, sinking feeling overwhelmed Levina. The very woman that had murdered Eric's sister, her own husband, and countless others, had _escaped? _This certainly wouldn't be good, not _at all. _"I need to talk to Eternity," she said promptly.

"No," said Hermione sternly. "You can't, Levina! She's not to be trusted, I wish you would just listen to me already! You need to cut your ties with her—"

"But—" Levina protested.

"Hermione's right," said Harry. "It's bad enough that you're fraternizing with Draco, but two Slytherins? You're just asking for it."

They finished their breakfast in silence. Hermione set off immediately for Ancient Runes; Ron for the common room, where he still had to finish his conclusion on Snape's Dementor essay, and Harry and Levina for the corridor on the seventh floor and the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to do ballet. Harry had convinced Levina to come along with him, to try and prove to her that Draco really was just reeling her in.

Harry slipped on his Invisibility Cloak once he had found an empty passage, but he need not have bothered. When they reached their destination they found it deserted. Regardless, Levina used a transparency charm on herself.

He closed his eyes as he approached the place where the Room of Requirement's door was concealed. Levina watched him pace past it, his eyes shut tight in concentration.

Three times he walked past the door. He moved forward and gave it an experimental push. The stone remained solid and unyielding.

"Okay," said Harry, and Levina smirked as he kicked the wall. "Okay...I thought the wrong thing..."

"Or maybe it just doesn't like you anymore," said Levina.

"I need to see the place where Malfoy keeps coming secretly...I need to see the place where Malfoy keeps coming secretly..."

After three walks past, he opened his eyes expectantly.

There was no door.

"Oh, come off it," he told the wall irritably. "That was a clear instruction...fine..."

"Harry, did it ever occur to you that maybe he told the Room of Requirement to not let anyone but him into it?" said Levina.

"I need you to become the place you become for Draco Malfoy..." Harry murmured, ignoring her.

There was still no door.

Harry swore. Someone screamed. Levina looked around to see a gaggle of first years running back around the corner, apparently under the impression that they had just encountered a particularly foul-mouthed ghost.

Levina watched Harry with little interest for an entire hour before, frustrated and annoyed, he set off for Defense Against the Dark Arts, pulling off his Invisibility Cloak and stuffing it into his bag as he went. Levina undid her own color charm and followed behind him, shaking her head.

"Just give it up, Harry," she said as she pulled out her books and Dementor essay.

"Not until I find out what he's doing," said Harry.

"Late again, Potter," said Snape coldly, as Harry hurried into the candlelit classroom. "And this time you brought Miss Snowpetal late, too. Ten points from Gryffindor." Harry scowled at Snape as he flung himself into the seat beside Ron, and Levina stuck her tongue out at him behind his back. Half the class were still on their feet, taking out books and organizing their things; they could not be much later than any of them.

"Before we start, I want your Dementor essays," said Snape, waving his wand carelessly, so that twenty-five scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on his desk. "And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page—what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Sir," said Seamus, "I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the Prophet about an Inferius—"

"No, there wasn't," said Snape in a bored voice.

"But sir, I heard people talking—"

"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," muttered Harry to Ron, Levina, and Hermione. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest—"

"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape, pointing suddenly at the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

The whole class looked around at Harry, and Levina glared at Snape, annoyed. She had wanted to hear Hermione and Ron's responses.

"Er—well—ghosts are transparent—" he said.

"Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. Ghosts are transparent."

Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle that made Levina's ears hurt. Several other people were smirking. Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though his insides were boiling, "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid—"

"A five-year-old could have told us as much," sneered Snape. "The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth…and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent. "

"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a look to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"

There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor," said Snape. "I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."

"No!" whispered Hermione, grabbing Harry's arm as he opened his mouth furiously. "There's no point, you'll just end up in detention again, leave it!"

"Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen," said Snape, smirking a little, "and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse."

Ron was very subdued all through the class. When the bell sounded at the end of the lesson, Lavender caught up with Ron, Levina, and Harry (Hermione mysteriously melted out of sight as she approached) and abused Snape hotly for his jibe about Ron's Apparition, but this seemed to merely irritate Ron, and he shook her off by making a detour into the boys' bathroom with Harry.

…

The following weekend, Ron joined Hermione, Levina, and the rest of the sixth years who would turn seventeen in time to take the test in a fortnight. Harry appeared fairly jealous of it, but Levina reminded him that she was no better at Apparition than anyone else. This didn't seem to help much, but Harry came to the decision that he would go and look for the room of Requirement again.

It wasn't until after the test that he found Ron, Levin, and Hermione in the Great Hall, already halfway through an early lunch. Levina was in a rather foul mood and she continually stirred her soup around and around with her spoon.

"I did it—well, kind of!" Ron told Harry enthusiastically when he caught sight of him. "I was supposed to be Apparating to outside Madam Puddifoots' Tea Shop and I overshot it a bit, ended up near Scrivenshafts, but at least I moved!"

"Good one," said Harry. "How'd you do, Hermione?"

"Oh, she was perfect, obviously," said Ron, before Hermione could answer. "Perfect deliberation, divination, and desperation or whatever the hell it is—we all went for a quick drink in the Three Broomsticks after and you should've heard Twycross going on about her—I'll be surprised if he doesn't pop the question soon—"

"And you?" said Harry, turning to Levina, who sank in her seat.

"Awful," said Levina, still stirring around her soup sadly. "I was told to Apparate to the street in front of Honeydukes and ended up getting stuck in a tree."

Harry was clearly trying not to laugh as he covered his mouth, and Levina couldn't really blame him. Everyone else had laughed at her…It had actually been pretty embarrassing; she landed in the topmost tree branch and her shirt cuff had snagged on the sharp end of a stick, leaving her hanging like a piñata.

"That was hilarious!" said Ron, grinning at Levina.

"For you, maybe! That was so humiliating," said Levina. "Two of the instructors had to get me down…"

"And what about you?" asked Hermione, ignoring Ron and Levina. "Have you been up at the Room of Requirement all this time?"

"Yep," said Harry. "And guess who I ran into up there? Tonks!"

"Tonks?" repeated Ron, Levina, and Hermione together, looking surprised.

"Yeah, she said she'd come to visit Dumbledore."

"If you ask me," said Ron once Harry had finished describing his conversation with Tonks, "she's cracking up a bit. Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."

"It's a bit odd," said Hermione, who for some reason looked very concerned. "She's supposed to be guarding the school, why is she suddenly abandoning her post to come and see Dumbledore when he's not even here?"

"I had a thought," said Harry tentatively. "You don't think she can have been...you know...in love with Sirius?"

Hermione and Levina stared at him.

"What on earth makes you say that?"

"I dunno," said Harry, shrugging, "but she was nearly crying when I mentioned his name…and her Patronus is a big four-legged thing now...I wondered whether it hadn't become...you know...him."

"Good point," said Levina. She hadn't thought of that before…It _was _a traumatic experience…

"It's a thought," said Hermione slowly. "But I still don't know why she'd be bursting into the castle to see Dumbledore, if that's really why she was here."

"Goes back to what I said, doesn't it?" said Ron, who was now shoveling mashed potato into his mouth. "She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women," he said wisely to Harry, "they're easily upset."

"And yet," said Hermione, coming out of her reverie, "I doubt you'd find a woman who sulked for half an hour because Madam Rosmerta didn't laugh at their joke about the hag, the Healer, and the Mimbulus mimbletonia."

Ron scowled and Levina let out a bark of laughter.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, guys! Sorry this was such a short chapter, but as I said before, I had to divide it up into two segments. The next chapter will be up shortly.<strong>

**Review Responses: **

**Flower gettin' Lady: Yup, they kissed! Well…sort of. It was more of a short, surprise peck on the lips from Draco, ruined by Snape. And it's totally fine! I can be really bad about both updating and reviewing, so it's perfectly fine. I just missed your reviews; reviews always make my day, and make my stories worthwhile(: And Eternity's mom Lydia killed Eric's half-sister. His parents are still alive, they just disowned him. And yeah, dogs have good hearing; not sure about werewolves. But Levina tends to have a keen sense of hearing. Also, I'm glad you liked the love potion scene! And now you now, he did come and visit her ;) Anyways, thanks!**

**Things to come: Sectumsempra, Apparition, and revealed secrets. Be sure to stick around for the next chapter!**


	12. Sectumsempra!

**Hello again! Sorry the last chapter was so short, but I hope you'll forgive me!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Harry Potter. But does anyone else think JK Rowling should write some books about the Marauders and how Lily and James fell in love? I'd definetly read them if she did. Just a thought.**

* * *

><p>Patches of bright blue sky were beginning to appear over the castle turrets, but these signs of approaching summer clearly did not lift Harry's mood. He had been 'thwarted', both in his attempts to find out what Draco was doing, and in his efforts to start a conversation with Slughorn that might lead, somehow, to Slughorn handing over the memory he had apparently suppressed for decades.<p>

"For the last time, just forget about Malfoy," Hermione told Harry firmly.

"Thank you, Hermione!" said Levina.

They were sitting with Ron in a sunny corner of the courtyard after lunch. Hermione, Levina, and Ron were all clutching a Ministry of Magic leaflet: Common _Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them_, for they were taking their tests that very afternoon, but by and large the leaflets had not proved soothing to the nerves. Ron gave a start and tried to hide behind Hermione as a girl came around the corner.

"It isn't Lavender," said Hermione wearily.

"Oh, good," said Ron, relaxing.

"Harry Potter?" said the girl. "I was asked to give you this."

"Thanks..."

Harry's expression fell as he took the small scroll of parchment. Once the girl was out of earshot he said, "Dumbledore said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I got the memory!"

"Maybe he wants to check on how you're doing?" suggested Hermione, as Harry unrolled the parchment; but upon looking over his shoulder, Levin saw that, rather than finding Dumbledore's long, narrow, slanted writing she saw an untidy sprawl, very difficult to read due to the presence of large blotches on the parchment where the ink had run.

_Dear Harry, Levina, Ron and Hermione,_

Aragog died last night. Harry and Ron, you met him and you know how special he was. Hermione, I know you'd have liked him. It would mean a lot to me if you'd nip down for the burial later this evening. I'm planning on doing it round dusk, that was his favorite time of day. I know you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the cloak. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone.

Hagrid

"Look at this," said Harry, handing the note to Hermione.

"This is ridiculous," said Levina. "Does he not remember that _thing_tried to feed us to its kids?" She gave an involuntary shudder. "I hate spiders."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," she said, scanning it quickly and passing it to Ron, who read it through looking increasingly incredulous.

"He's mental!" he said furiously. "That thing told its mates to eat Harry and me! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"

"It's not just that," said Hermione. "He's asking us to leave the castle at night and he knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."

"We've been down to see him by night before," said Harry.

"Yes, but for something like this?" said Hermione. "We've risked a lot to help Hagrid out, but after all—Aragog's dead. If it were a question of saving him—"

"—I'd want to go even less," said Ron firmly. "You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot."

"Yeah, now that he can't kill us and all," said Levina.

Harry took the note back and stared down at all the inky blotches all over it. His expression was torn.

"Harry, you can't be thinking of going," said Hermione. "It's such a pointless thing to get detention for."

Harry sighed.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "I s'pose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us."

"Yes, he will," said Hermione, looking relieved. "Look, Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests...try and soften Slughorn up a bit then!"

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" said Harry bitterly.

"Lucky," said Ron suddenly. "Harry, that's it—get lucky!"

Levina smirked at his words and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Real mature, Levina."

"What d'you mean?" said Harry.

"Use your lucky potion!"

"Ron, that's—that's it!" said Hermione, sounding stunned. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"

Harry stared at them. "Felix Felicis?" he said. "I dunno...I was sort of saving it..."

"What for?" demanded Ron incredulously.

"What on earth is more important than this memory, Harry?" asked Hermione.

Harry did not answer, but Levina had a feeling she knew what he was thinking of: Ginny.

"Harry? Are you still with us?" asked Hermione.

"Wha-? Yeah, of course," he said, pulling himself together. "Well...okay. If I can't get Slughorn to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have another go this evening."

"That's decided, then," said Hermione briskly, getting to her feet and performing a graceful pirouette. "Destination...determination...deliberation..." she murmured.

"Oh, stop that," Ron begged her, "I feel sick enough as it is—quick, hide me!"

"It isn't Lavender!" said Hermione impatiently, as another couple of girls appeared in the courtyard and Ron dived behind her.

"Cool," said Ron, peering over Hermione's shoulder to check. "Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"

"They're the Montgomery sisters and of course they don't look happy, didn't you hear what happened to their little brother?" said Hermione.

"I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest," said Ron.

"Well, their brother was attacked by a werewolf." Levina's ears perked up and she turned to listen in curiously. "The rumor is that their mother refused to help the Death Eaters. Anyway, the boy was only five and he died in St. Mungo's, they couldn't save him."

"He died?" repeated Harry, shocked. "But surely werewolves don't kill, they just turn you into one of them?"

"They sometimes kill," said Ron, who looked unusually grave now. "I've heard of it happening when the werewolf gets carried away."

Levina's stomach hurt. The three of them were deliberately avoiding eye contact with her. What, did they think she was going to just spring up and attack them suddenly?

"What was the werewolf's name?" said Harry quickly.

"Well, the rumor is that it was that Fenrir Greyback," said Hermione.

"I knew it—the maniac who likes attacking kids, the one Lupin told me about!" said Harry angrily.

"Oh, him," said Levina dully.

Hermione looked at Harry bleakly.

"Harry, you've got to get that memory," she said. "It's all about stopping Voldemort, isn't it? These dreadful things that are happening are all down to him...Oh, stop looking so grim!" she added to Levina, who winced. "We know you're not going to eat us, all right?"

"Well, why should you assume that?" said Levina moodily. "You never know…If I were to take off my necklace—"

The bell rang overhead in the castle and both Hermione, Levina, and Ron jumped to their feet, looking terrified.

"You'll do fine," Harry told them both, as they headed toward the entrance hall to meet the rest of the people taking their Apparition Test. "Good luck."

"And you too!" said Hermione with a significant look, as Harry headed off to the dungeons.

…

Ron, Levina, and Hermione returned from the exam in the late afternoon.

"Harry!" cried Hermione as she climbed through the portrait hole. "Harry, I passed!"

"Well done!" he said. "And Ron?"

"He—he just failed," whispered Hermione, as Ron came slouching into the room looking most morose. "It was really unlucky, a tiny thing, the examiner just spotted that he'd left half an eyebrow behind..."

"Need I ask about you, Levina?" said Harry, who'd noticed how Levina had slumped into the room head-first and hadn't bothered getting up from the floor.

"Failed," she said miserably through a mouthful of carpet. "My examiner noticed I had left a couple strings of hair behind and he failed me."

"Wow, that's harsh," said Harry sympathetically, but Levina didn't move from her spot on the floor. She felt ashamed. What was the point in being a well-known witch with supposed "amazing" abilities if she couldn't event Apparate?

"How did it go with Slughorn?" said Hermione, changing subjects.

"No joy," said Harry, as Ron joined them. "Bad luck, mate, but you'll pass next time—we can take it together."

"Yeah, I s'pose," said Ron grumpily. "But half an eyebrow! Like that matters!"

"Or a few stray hairs!" said Levina crossly. "For all they know I could've just accidently brushed them off of my head."

"I know," said Hermione soothingly, "it does seem really harsh..."

They spent most of their dinner roundly abusing the Apparition examiner, and Ron looked fractionally more cheerful by the time they set off back to the common room, now discussing the continuing problem of Slughorn and the memory. Levina, however, still felt slightly annoyed.

"So, Harry—you going to use the Felix Felicis or what?" Ron demanded.

"Yeah, I s'pose I'd better," said Harry. "I don't reckon I'll need all of it, not twenty-four hours' worth, it can't take all night... I'll just take a mouthful. Two or three hours should do it."

"It's a great feeling when you take it," said Ron reminiscently. "Like you can't do anything wrong."

"What are you talking about?" said Hermione, laughing. "You've never taken any!"

"Yeah, but I thought I had, didn't I?" said Ron, as though explaining the obvious. "Same difference really ..."

As they had only just seen Slughorn enter the Great Hall and knew that he liked to take time over meals, they lingered for a while in the common room, the plan being that Harry should go to Slughorn's office once the teacher had had time to get back there. When the sun had sunk to the level of the treetops in the Forbidden Forest, they decided the moment had come, and after checking carefully that Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all in the common room, sneaked up to the boys' dormitory.

Harry took out the rolled-up socks at the bottom of his trunk and extracted the tiny, gleaming bottle.

"Well, here goes," said Harry, and he raised the little bottle and look a carefully measured gulp.

"What does it feel like?" whispered Hermione.

"Does it taste good?" said Levina.

Harry did not answer for a moment. Then, he got to his feet, smiling, brimming with confidence.

"Excellent," he said. "Really excellent. Right...I'm going down to Hagrid's."

"What?" said Ron, Levin, and Hermione together, looking aghast.

"No, Harry—you've got to go and see Slughorn, remember?" said Hermione.

"No," said Harry confidently. "I'm going to Hagrid's, I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's."

"You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?" asked Ron, looking stunned.

"Yeah," said Harry, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag.

"A spider that tried to kill us?" said Levina.

"Yeah. I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"

"No," said Ron, Levina, and Hermione together, alarmed.

"This is Felix Felicis, I suppose?" said Hermione anxiously, holding up the bottle to the light. "You haven't got another little bottle full of—I don't know—"

"Essence of Insanity?" suggested Ron, as Harry swung his cloak over his shoulders.

Harry laughed, and Ron and Hermione looked even more alarmed. Levina just merely stared at him blankly.

"Trust me," he said. "I know what I'm doing…or at least..." he strolled confidently to the door, "Felix does."

He pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head and set off down the stairs, Ron and Hermione hurrying along behind him. At the foot of the stairs, Harry slid through the open door. Levina hastily ran behind him, but she was quickly stopped by the person standing there.

"What were you doing up there with her!" shrieked Lavender Brown, staring right through Harry at Ron and Hermione emerging together from the boys' dormitories. Levina heard Ron spluttering, but when she turned to see where Harry had gone, she found that he had vanished. Annoyed, she sank into one of the seats by the fire.

"Think he's lost it?" said Levina to Hermione as she sat down.

"Maybe," said Hermione, frowning. "Strange that he would act that way, huh?"

Levina shrugged. "Maybe it's just all part of the potion, I guess…But still," she added. She was distracted now, staring into the fire, thinking about Eternity…Did she know that her mother had escaped prison? Surely she would, being her daughter and all…But what would she do when she found out? Had her escape been all of the plan? Lydia Russell, from the articles Levina had read, was not someone to be messed with…And then, there was Eric. What would he do upon discovering that the murderer of his half-sister had escaped her life-long sentence in Azkaban?

What about that Werewolf, Fenrir? He was giving all of them, Levina and Lupin included, a bad reputation...She wondered if most werewolves were like him and that perhaps she and Lupin were just outcasts that didn't attack…Then another thought occurred to her: Had her mother ever attacked anyone? The thought made her sick. What if Nadia Hale had once killed someone in a rage of emotions?

And she realized she had been subconsciously fingering the scars from Umbridge on her arm.

….

Harry told Ron, Levina, and Hermione everything that had happened during next morning's Charms lesson (having first cast the Muffliato spell upon those nearest them). They were satisfyingly impressed by the way he had wheedled the memory out of Slughorn and positively awed when he told them about Voldemort's Horcruxes and Dumbledore's promise to take Harry along, should he find another one.

"I didn't think that potion had even worked," said Levina in awe. "I thought you'd just gone mad."

"Wow," said Ron; he was waving his wand very vaguely in the direction of the ceiling without paying the slightest bit of attention to what he was doing. "Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore...and try and destroy...wow."

"Ron, you're making it snow," said Hermione patiently, grabbing his wrist and redirecting his wand away from the ceiling from which, sure enough, large white flakes had started to fall. Lavender Brown, Levina noticed, glared at Hermione from a neighboring table through very red eyes, and Hermione immediately let go of Ron's arm.

"Oh yeah," said Ron, looking down at his shoulders in vague surprise. "Sorry...looks like we've all got horrible dandruff now..."

Levina shook the snow off of her hair like a dog, and when Ron brushed some of the fake snow off Hermione's shoulder, Lavender burst into tears. Ron looked immensely guilty and turned his back on her.

"We split up," he told Harry out of the corner of his mouth, "Last night. When she saw me coming out of the dormitory with Hermione. Obviously she couldn't see you, so she thought it had just been the two of us. And Levina," he added, "but I mean, I think she thought you were included—"

"Me?" Levina snorted with a smirk. "I wish I'd stuck around to listen to her reaction."

"Ah," said Harry. "Well—you don't mind it's over, do you?"

"No," Ron admitted. "It was pretty bad while she was yelling, but at least I didn't have to finish it."

"Coward," said Hermione, though she looked amused. "Well, it was a bad night for romance all around. Ginny and Dean split up too, Harry."

Levina thought there was a rather knowing look in her eye as she told him that, but Harry attempted to look casual. "How come?"

"Oh, something really silly...she said he was always trying to help her through the portrait hole, like she couldn't climb in herself...but they've been a bit rocky for ages."

Levina glanced over at Dean on the other side of the classroom. He certainly looked unhappy.

"Of course, this puts you in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?" said Hermione.

"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly, and Levina searched his face; it was lit up.

"The Quidditch team," said Hermione. "If Ginny and Dean aren't speaking..."

"Oh—oh yeah," said Harry.

"Flitwick," said Ron in a warning tone. The tiny little Charms master was bobbing his way toward them, and Hermione was the only one who had managed to turn vinegar into wine; her glass flask was full of deep crimson liquid, whereas the contents of Harry's, Levina's, and Ron's were still murky brown.

"Now, now, boys—" squeaked Professor Flitwick reproachfully.

"_And girl!"_ said Levina crossly. "Really now, Professor! It's been six years."

"Sorry. A little less talk, a little more action...Let me see you try..."

Together they raised their wands, concentrating with all their might, and pointed them at their flasks. Harry's vinegar turned to ice; Ron's flask exploded; Levina's vinegar turned bubblegum-pink.

"Yes…for homework," said Professor Flitwick, reemerging from under the table and pulling shards of glass out of the top of his hat, "practice."

They had one of their rare joint free periods after Charms and walked back to the common room together. Ron seemed to be positively lighthearted about the end of his relationship with Lavender, and Hermione seemed cheery too, though when asked what she was grinning about she simply said, "It's a nice day."

The moment they climbed through the portrait hole, Levina spotted a group of seventh-years clustered together, all chattering loudly.

"Katie! You're back!" said Levina, delighted to see her once again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm really well!" she said happily. "They let me out of St. Mungo's on Monday, I had a couple of days at home with Mum and Dad and then came back here this morning. Leanne was just telling me about McLaggen and the last match, Harry..."

"Yeah," said Harry, "well, now you're back and Levina and Ron are fit, we'll have a decent chance of thrashing Ravenclaw, which means we could still be in the running for the Cup. Listen, Katie..."

Levina knew right away what he was about to ask her. Curiously, Levina leaned in as well.

"...that necklace...can you remember who gave it to you now?"

"No," said Katie, shaking her head ruefully. "Everyone's been asking me, but I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies' in the Three Broomsticks."

"You definitely went into the bathroom, then?" said Hermione.

"And it was definitely the girls' one?" Levina added. Katie flashed her a small grin.

"Well, I know I pushed open the door," said Katie, "so I suppose whoever Imperiused me was standing just behind it. After that, my memory's a blank until about two weeks ago in St. Mungo's. Listen, I'd better go, I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to give me lines even if it is my first day back..."

She caught up her bag and books and hurried after her friends, leaving Harry, Levina, Ron, and Hermione to sit down at a window table and ponder what she had told them.

"So it must have been a girl or a woman who gave Katie the necklace," said Hermione, "to be in the ladies' bathroom."

"Or someone who looked like a girl or a woman," said Harry. "Don't forget, there was a cauldron full of Polyjuice Potion at Hogwarts. We know some of it got stolen..."

"Right," said Levina, having a sudden image of Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle turning into girls. She shook the thought away, annoyed by how much Harry's own suspicions were affecting her.

"I think I'm going to take another swig of Felix," said Harry, "and have a go at the Room of Requirement again."

"That would be a complete waste of potion," said Hermione flatly, putting down the copy of Spellman's Syllabary she had just taken out of her bag. "Luck can only get you so far, Harry. The situation with Slughorn was different; you always had the ability to persuade him, you just needed to tweak the circumstances a bit. Luck isn't enough to get you through a powerful enchantment, though. Don't go wasting the rest of that potion! You'll need all the luck you can get if Dumbledore takes you along with him..." She dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Couldn't we make some more?" Ron asked Harry, ignoring Hermione. "It'd be great to have a stock of it...have a look in the book... "

Harry pulled his copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bap, and looked up Felix Felicis.

"Blimey, it's seriously complicated," he said, running an eye down the list of ingredients. "And it takes six months...you've got to let it stew..."

"Typical," said Ron.

"We should've started at the beginning of the year," said Levina.

The only person who was not particularly pleased to see Katie Bell back at school was Dean Thomas, because he would no longer be required to fill her place as Chaser. He took the blow stoically enough when Harry told him, merely grunting and shrugging, but Levina had the distinct feeling as he walked away that Dean and Seamus were muttering mutinously behind his back.

The following fortnight saw the best Quidditch practices Harry had known as Captain. The team was so pleased to be rid of McLaggen, so glad to have Katie back at last, that they were flying extremely well. Levina let out a sigh of relief; it felt great to be up in the air again.

Ginny did not seem at all upset about the breakup with Dean; on the contrary, she was the life and soul of the team. Her imitations of Ron anxiously bobbing up and down in front of the goal posts as the Quaffle sped toward him, or of Harry bellowing orders at McLaggen before being knocked out cold, kept them all highly amused. Harry, who'd been very obviously watching Ginny more than usual, got hit upside the head with more bludgers than usual, one of which Levina herself whacked lightly at him to get him to wake up.

Interest in the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game was running extremely high throughout the school, for the match would decide the Championship, which was still wide open. If Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw by a margin of three hundred points (a tall order, and yet Harry had never known his team to fly better, much to Levina's delight) then they would win the Championship. If they won by less than three hundred points, they would come second to Ravenclaw; if they lost by a hundred points they would be third behind Hufflepuff and if they lost by more than a hundred, they would be in fourth place and nobody, Levina thought, would ever, ever let Harry forget that it had been he who had captained Gryffindor to their first bottom-of-the-table defeat in two centuries.

The run-up to this crucial match had all the usual features: members of rival Houses attempting to intimidate opposing teams in the corridors; unpleasant chants about individual players being rehearsed loudly as they passed; the team members themselves either swaggering around enjoying all the attention or else dashing into bathrooms between classes to throw up.

A few days before the match against Ravenclaw, Levina found herself walking down to dinner alone from the common room, Ron having rushed off into a nearby bathroom to throw up yet again, and Hermione having dashed off to see Professor Vector about a mistake she thought she might have made in her last Arithmancy essay. She wasn't sure where Harry was, but she was in a good mood; being back in Quidditch improved her level of happiness much higher, and she was ecstatic for the next game, not even thinking about Draco or Eternity or Werewolves anymore. That was the thing about Quidditch…it took her mind off of things.

At some point, Levina stopped in the middle of the hallway to dig through her bag; she was trying to find the newspaper articles from Eternity, as she had wanted to send them to Destiny later. She wanted to find a good time to send them, hoping Eric wouldn't be back from Romania anytime soon and therefore wouldn't see the newspapers articles; she kept her word that she wouldn't say anything to Eric, but the temptation was so great—

Suddenly, her canine hearing caught something and she froze mid-grab for the paper. There was the sound of someone sniffling heavily. Two muffled voices could be heard, followed by a dismal whimper. Was someone beating up a first year again? Just last week, Levina had jinxed a Slytherin who was bullying a Gryffindor first-year in the hallway, but Snape had caught her and deducted points from their House.

The sound was coming from a nearby boys' bathroom. Levina hesitated; going into boys' bathrooms was not her cup of tea, but if it was another Slytherin prat, then it would be another perfect opportunity to try out some new jinxes on him, seeing as no teachers were around.

Levina crept up to the door, thinking it would be horribly embarrassing if it turned out to just be two best mates like Ron and Harry discussing something personal. Nevertheless, she eased the door open and peered inside around the corner. Her jaw dropped open.

None other than Draco Malfoy was standing with his back to the door, his hands clutching either side of the sink, his white-blond head bowed.

"Don't," crooned, to Levina's even more surprise, Moaning Myrtle's voice from one of the cubicles. "Don't...tell me what's wrong…I can help you..."

"No one can help me," said Draco. His whole body was shaking. "I can't do it...I can't...It won't work...and unless I do it soon…he says he'll kill me..."

Levina stood rooted on the spot in horror. Here was Draco Malfoy, the 'all-tough' Slytherin who'd bullied her for years, sobbing openly into a sink. Her heart thudded horribly fast; someone was going to _kill _him? Voldemort? No…A horrible sense of pitying overwhelmed Levina, but she was frozen in place.

Draco was crying—actually crying—tears streaming down his pale face into the grimy basin. Draco gasped and gulped and then, with a great shudder, looked up into cracked mirror and saw Levina staring at him over his shoulder.

Draco wheeled around, his eyes wide. "Levina?"

Moaning Myrtle looked over in Levina's direction and scowled.

"Oh, _now _you come visit me," she snapped. "Well, I'm busy right now, can't you see—?"

"Draco," said Levina, finding the courage somewhere deep in her chest to say something, "what's—?"

Draco shook his head, attempted to regain his composure, and lost it again. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he made no effort to wipe them away. Levina took a few steps toward him, knowing she could very well be digging her own grave.

"What's going on?" she whispered softly.

"I…I can't…" Draco spluttered between shallow breaths. He gave a great shudder. "You shouldn't be here—"

"I thought we were friends?" said Levina in a timid voice. "You can…er…tell me what's wrong. If it would help," she added uncertainly.

Draco's watery eyes narrowed. "And what? Have you deliver information to that nosy Potter friend of yours? I don't think so." His stern look faded and he looked as though he might break down again.

"No! I would _never _do that," said Levina. "Harry's my friend, but…well, you are, too. I think I'm fairly decent with keeping secrets, if you know what I mean." Her mind had wandered back to the kiss.

Draco's stormy, tear-filled grey eyes widened, but he said nothing to acknowledge he knew what she was referring to.

Levina was aware of Moaning Myrtle glaring at her, but she approached Draco at a few more steps, gaining shaky confidence. "Well, I've suspected for a while something was wrong with you, but…I couldn't quite pinpoint it…I thought maybe you were planning something—"

"Yeah, so I've been different," said Draco, trembling slightly and looking alarmed at her accusation. "That doesn't mean I've been 'planning' anything—"

"Whatever it is," said Levina, dropping her bag onto the floor, "I'm…well, sorry. I—you're crying," she added stupidly.

Draco's face contorted into one of pain. "Yeah, that's right. Going to…to go run off to your Gryffindor friends and have a good laugh about it?"

"Does it look like I'm laughing?" said Levina sharply, slightly wounded by his comment. "I know you're keeping something from me…It's not really any of my business," she added quickly, "but I'd like to know what's wrong."

Draco hesitated for a moment. More tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes.

"Can't you see you're only making it worse?" shrieked Moaning Myrtle, looking fiercely at Levina. "Why don't you just get out of here before you hurt him even mo—"

"He said he'd kill me," said Draco suddenly in a terrified voice, and Levina jerked her head around to look him in the eye.

"Who?" said Levina, lowering her voice. When Draco didn't answer, she whispered, "Voldemort?"

Draco winced and Moaning Myrtle let out a high-pitched squeal of both anger and fear, but Draco neither nodded nor shook his head.

"You don't have to be afraid," said Levina in what she hoped was a somewhat calming voice, but Draco hastily said defensively, "I'm not afraid—!"

"Okay, you're not," said Levina, thinking fast. "But what I'm trying to say is that…well…" Levina racked her brain like mad for the right words to say, and Draco continued to stare at her with a long gaze, waiting. She sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm here for you…if you need me. I won't be going anywhere, or telling anyone like Harry anything. I'm not the type to kiss and tell, so to speak," she added, and if Draco hadn't understood her before, he certainly did now, judging by his expression.

What came about next happened so fast that Levina had no time to react. Draco approached her swiftly, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her into a tight embrace. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and he pressed his body up against hers, trembling violently like a small child, sobbing. Ignoring Moaning Myrtle's obvious resentment, Levina very slowly and timidly raised her own arms and draped them around him, where one lay on his back and one in his blond hair. He wasn't holding back now, as he openly cried into Levina's shoulder and neck, staining her shirt and hair with tears.

"It was m…my fault," said Draco unexpectedly in a muffled voice. "I never intended for you to get hurt—never—"

"Hurt?" Levina repeated, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"No…It was stupid," said Draco, and his grip on her tightened. "I was so relieved when…" he trailed off.

Levina wasn't sure exactly how much time passed, how long they stood pressed together, with Draco sobbing against her. She subconsciously stroked his blond hair with one hand soothingly, but she couldn't bring herself to actually make any words to comfort him.

_What _was going on? What could have driven him to such a horrible, pathetic state? There was no doubt in her mind now that Voldemort had threatened to kill him, but the question was, why? Was Harry right? Was he a Death Eater now, and had he devised some sort of plan? Upon running through these questions, Levina just barely missed the next thing Draco said to her.

"Sorry?" said Levina in a soft voice.

"I said I'm not…I'm not the only whose been hiding something, am I?" said Draco in a strained voice.

Levina froze in place, looking over Draco's shoulder at the bathroom wall, alarmed. Was he referring to their kiss, and how she hadn't told Fred? No, that had already been clarified before…Then a horrible thought occurred to her and she bit her lip: Did he know something about her Werewolf blood?

"The scars on your arm," said Draco between shaky breaths, confirming her worst fears. "I know they're there, but I don't know what they say. And I know that necklace isn't just a family heirloom…I've seen it somewhere before, I just can't remember where…" he trailed off.

Still, Levina said nothing, horrified by the idea that Draco possibly knew something about her blood…Should she lie? She could feel his heart pounding rapidly against hers, could hear the fast rhythm…She had a feeling he could feel her own heart rate speeding up, and she wondered how she would worm her way out of the situation.

"You know what?" said Draco, finally releasing his grasp on her and pulling away, leaving her rooted on the spot. "I've thought of something…You and I are both hiding something, we know that much."

"…Right," said Levina, eyeing him suspiciously. Moaning Myrtle hovered nearby now, listening in curiously.

"So let's make a deal…If you tell me yours, I won't tell anyone, and I'll tell you mine, but you won't tell anyone."

Levina's heart leapt. Draco was offering to tell her everything, as long as she told him about her Werewolf blood? There had to be some sort of trick, but Levina could barely keep herself from blurting everything out. It felt strange, the idea of sharing a secret pact with Draco Malfoy…but then again, it also felt strange being a shoulder to cry on for a once-enemy Slytherin.

"All right," Levina sighed, and Draco nodded, but his eyes were still red and leaking tears.

"They both have something to do with our arms," said Draco confidently, reaching for his sleeve. Levina's mind spun immediately; Death Eaters had tattoos on their arms of the Dark Mark, didn't they? Was that what he was about to show her? Or was there something else? She remembered him recoiling and yelping when she saw him in the robes shop in Diagon Alley, when the clerk had tried to bring up his sleeve…

"Who's first?" said Levina, and when Draco hesitated and uneasily fingered his sleeve, she added, "All right…I'll show you mine first. But you _can't tell anyone. _Okay? Or I'll kill you."

"I swear," said Draco, and, before she could change her mind, Levina pulled her sleeve back and held out her arm to him. Draco took her arm cautiously, as though it were something fragile or made of glass, and read the words: _Filthy Half-Breed._ For a horribly silent minute or two, Draco said nothing.

"What do they mean?" said Draco, staring down at the scars, bemused. "I thought you were a pureblood."

"I…well…" Levina sucked in a deep breath. She was definitely going to regret this later on. "I'm a Werewolf."

Draco's jaw practically hit the floor. Moaning Myrtle cackled with glee behind him and shrieked, "No! You're lying, aren't you? A wolf? That's hilarious!"

Levina ignored her, but her face burned red. "I'm not the kind that Lupin is; I'm a 'rare species' or something. I don't change at the full moon, I just change if I become really, really emotional or angered by something. I haven't yet before, but they say it's really hard to control yourself when you change. I didn't dye my hair red," she added. "It changed color because of the Werewolf gene. That's why I'm filthy. That's why I'm a half-breed."

Levina exhaled deeply. There was no turning back now, no backtracking. She knew if Lupin found out she'd told Draco, he would eat her at the next full moon for sure. For what seemed like an eternity, Draco just gawked at Levina in shock, making the room feel incredibly awkward. Levina's eyes met her feet and she tried to not look up at him, for fear that he might look afraid of her.

"I never would have guessed that," said Draco finally.

"Me either," said Levina with what she hoped was a careless-looking shrug. "It's all right if you don't want to be friends with me anymore," she added.

"Wait, why would I not want to?" said Draco.

"Because you know that I'm…er…'weird'," said Levina.

"You're not any different to me…I always knew you were weird."

Levina shot him a dirty look, but she felt tremendously relieved that he hadn't run from the room in terror.

"It's just…wow…." He shook his head. "It's just…well, strange."

"Yeah, well, that's me," said Levina. "'Levina the Strange.' But before you start picking me apart, let's see your arm."

Draco wavered uncertainly on the spot. His hand loitered on his sleeve for a moment, and as he began to lift it, he added, "Don't think bad of me when you see it, Levina."

Heart thudding so hard in her chest that it hurt, Levina leaned in forward for a better look, and just as she saw the slightest hint of something black imprinted on his pale arm—

The lamp next to Levina's head shattered violently; she shrieked and dropped onto her hands and knees, startled. When she looked up, she saw, to her utter surprise, Harry Potter. He had his wand out and he looked almost as furious as Draco did now.

"Harry!" said Levina, but her voice caught in her throat. _Bu-sted._

"You almost hit her!" Draco shouted, and Harry threw himself sideways just as Draco sent a violent jinx at him, cracking a mirror on the wall.

"No! No! Stop it!" squealed Moaning Myrtle, her voice echoing loudly around the tiled room. "Stop! STOP!"

"Harry, _no!" _Levina screamed, getting quickly to her feet. "Both of you! Stop it!"

There was a loud bang and the bin behind Harry exploded; The cistern beneath Moaning Myrtle smashed by Moaning Myrtle, who screamed loudly.

"HARRY!" Levina drew her own wand and, without thinking, sent a jinx at Draco, who just barely dodged it and rolled onto the floor, but the expression of distress on his face made a swirl of guilt rise in Levina. "No—I'm sorry—_Harry, no!"_

Harry had sent another jinx at Draco, and it shattered the mirror behind his head. Levina ducked as shards of glass showered down, some cutting her arms and catching in her robes, and she sent a second jinx at Draco in an attempt to stop him.

"Oh, merde!" said Levina, wincing as she picked a shard of glass from her arm, earning a trail of blood down her cloak. "Arrêter! _Arrêter!" _she yelled, but it appeared as though her words went unheard between the two duelers.

Moaning Myrtle continued to shriek and whine at them, stinging Levina's canine ears as she did so. Just as Levina got to her feet, a jinx soared over her head, barely missing her, and exploded one of the toilets.

"STOP IT!" Levina shouted angrily at the two of them. "This is ridiculous!"

Neither one paid her much mind; it was as though they were in their own world now, and Levina was on the outside, just a spectator. Feeling torn between the two, Levina frantically looked back and forth at the jinxes flying in all directions, trying to think. Suddenly, both Draco and Harry went flying in opposite directions and hit the walls behind them with a loud _Thud!_

_Did I do that? _Thought Levina vaguely, but there was no time to dwell on it two of them looked confused for a moment, got to their feet again, and continued dueling.

"For crying out loud!" said Levina, drawing her wand again and attempting to separate the two.

In Levina's mind, Levina heard Harry use _Expelliarmus_, Draco use _Impedimenta_, and Harry use _petrificus totalus._

Water poured everywhere and Harry slipped as Draco, his face contorted, cried, "Cruci—"

"_No—!" _Levina screamed.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" bellowed Harry from the floor, waving his wand wildly.

Scarlett blood spurted from Draco's face and chest as though he had been slashed with an invisible sword. He staggered backward and collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand falling from his limp right hand.

"DRACO!" Levina didn't even attempt to suppress her squeal. Shoving Harry blindly out of the way, she crouched down next to the bleeding boy and began attempting to stop the heavy flow of blood, but merely earning two bloody red-painted hands—

"No—" gasped Harry.

Slipping and staggering, Harry got to his feet and plunged toward Draco, whose face was now shining scarlet, his white hands scrabbling at his blood-soaked chest.

"No—I didn't—"

Draco was shaking uncontrollably in a pool of his own blood. Levina, completely losing it now, broke down into tears, then lay her head on his chest, earning a splatter of fresh blood in her red hair. No—he was going to be fine, he had to be—

"Levina, I didn't mean to—I wasn't—" Harry spluttered.

"Harry—you—you incredible—_ARSE!"_ Levina shouted at him in rage. Her eyes were flooding with tears. She had no idea why she was acting this way—would she have been if it were Harry in his place, and it had been Draco who had jinxed him? What made her stomach sick was that she wasn't sure…Perhaps it was just the thought that Harry could have killed Draco is what fuelled her to feel so sympathetic and frightened for him. And…had Draco tried to use the Cruciatus curse on Harry? That in itself was unforgivable, hence the name Unforgivable Curse, but she wasn't sure who she was more furious at.

Or perhaps it was the prospect of not having a hold on things like she usually did. She had absolutely no current control over this situation, that was for sure…

Harry had backed away several steps from Levina now, looking frightened at her. She wasn't sure what had startled him, but it didn't matter for the time being. What did was that Draco was now clutching so tight to Levina's arm that it hurt, his grey eyes wide.

Moaning Myrtle let out a deafening scream:

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up, clearly terrified: Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Draco, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. Levina remained at Draco's side, and Snape tried to shove her roughly out of the way, but she snarled at him and refused to move. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Draco's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.

Moaning Myrtle was still sobbing and wailing overhead. When Snape had performed his counter-curse for the third time, he half-lifted Draco into a standing position.

"You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that…come...Miss Snowpetal, help me bring him there."

He and a violently shaking Levina supported Draco across the bathroom, turning at the door to say in a voice of cold fury, "And you, Potter…You wait here for me."

…

Much to both Harry's dislike and relief, Levina completely ignored him for a while. She spent more time in the hospital wing than was probably necessary or recommended, sitting at Draco's side, doodling stuff on parchment paper while he was asleep. She waited at his side, sometimes staring out the window in a daze and other times actually looking at Draco's face. He always looked so peaceful and yet so in pain, like a sleeping wounded animal. He never awoke when she visited, but he sometimes stirred and murmured things under his breath.

For some reason, she felt it was her own fault. Perhaps if she hadn't gone into the bathroom, Harry wouldn't have gone looking for her. Or maybe she could have jinxed Harry and prevented him from sending the spell in the first place. Her heart felt ripped into two, and no matter how much time she spent sitting at Draco's bedside, she never quite figured out where her heart wanted to be. On one hand, Harry had stuck with her since the very beginning, whereas Draco had only recently decided to be her friend. However, Draco also understood her better than Harry did and didn't go snooping around trying to see what Harry was up to 24/7.

Perhaps, she thought sometimes, it would be better if she just completely forgot about it all. She almost wished she and Draco would go back to being enemies, so that she wouldn't have to pick sides all the time. Or, if he and Draco were to _somehow _in some alternate universe be friends, then maybe she wouldn't have to worry her head off.

Pansy Parkinson dropped in often, and every time she did so, she chased Levina out, snarling at her and practically nipping at her heels like a vicious dog, which Levina found ironic, considering _she_ was the werewolf.

"Just dropping in," said Levina coldly every time Pansy demanded why she was there, much to Pansy's irritation and dislike.

It wasn't until one early morning visit that Pansy was nowhere to be seen. Relieved, Levina took her place next to Draco's bed and flipped open her homework for the night. For some reason, she felt the need to visit him often, as he had every day when she had been poisoned. Perhaps she felt she had to return the favor, although he probably never knew she was even there.

Levina sighed and began writing a letter to Fred. She felt guilty, having not written in a while. A stir of shame rose in her stomach as she dipped her feather into the ink bottle, frowning. She finally had what she had wanted for so many years, to be going steady with the most amazing redhead boy on the earth, one who would never betray her…And here she was, hugging, comforting, and keeping the company of a Slytherin enemy…

Suddenly, something tight grasped Levina's arm and her train of thought smeared on the parchment. She looked up in alarm to see that Draco, still fast asleep and snoring lightly, had grabbed her arm. She attempted to tug free from his grasp, but it was no good, unless she wanted to wake him up. Defeated, she gave up and let her arm hang limply in his hand. For some reason, at the touch, she'd felt something close to an electric shock, much like the time she had played with an outlet in her Aunt's house when she was little. It was strange.

Although Levina did not speak with Harry, there were Slytherin taunts he had to endure the next day, not to mention much anger from fellow Gryffindors, who were most unhappy that their Captain had got himself banned from the final match of the season. By Saturday morning, Levina found herself practically trudging all the way down to the pitch, dragging her feet. She knew right off the bat that she was going to play horribly, as she always did when she was too distracted.

Not to mention the fact that Harry wasn't among them, since he was serving detention in Snape's office. Even without him, however, the team played very well, and they ended up winning four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty. It was a large victory for most but a small for Levina, who, against the protests of her fellow players, knew she had played very badly.

Levina cheered halfheartedly along with her fellow Gryffindors. She knew she would have to face Harry eventually, and now would be a good time to talk to him. She was afraid, however, that she might become angered again and explode in front of him.

_No…just be cool about it_, she thought. _Keep calm and just try to not bring it up… _

In the common room, a party was in progress; Levina had gone down to the kitchens, using Fred and George's old pathways and secrets, and had brought them all food and drinks. She hoped it would soften the mood some, and she hung gold and red streamers around the room.

A roar of celebration erupted from the hole behind her. Levina turned around, in the middle of drinking her butterbeer. Harry gaped as people began to scream at the sight of him; several hands pulled him into the room.

"We won!" yelled Ron, bounding into sight and brandishing the silver Cup at Harry. "We won! Four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty! We won!"

Harry looked around, and Ginny ran at top speed towards him, looking excited. Just as Levina lifted her butterbeer to her lips, thinking of what to say, Harry seized Ginny and kissed her.

After several long moments—very awkward moments—they broke apart. The room had gone very quiet. Then several people wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of nervous giggling. Levina looked over the top of her butterbeer head to see Dean Thomas holding a shattered glass in his hand, and Romilda Vane looking as though she might throw something. Levina grinned up at him with a wide smirk, and he returned to look with a roll of his eyes. Hermione was beaming, and Ron was wearing an expression that suggested he'd been clobbered in the head by something.

Harry grinned down at Ginny and gestured wordlessly out of the portrait hole. Levina watched them go, half-relieved and half-annoyed that their conversation had been delayed.

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! I had that entire Sectumsempra scene in my head for a long time, but I just couldn't figure out how to do it when it came to actually typing it. Hope you all enjoyed!<strong>

**Flower gettin' Lady: Stalker Draco! Haha that made me laugh(: Oh and Fred was here a few chapters ago-he was there at Christmas, but yeah, sadly, he's no longer at Hogwarts. And as for Eternity? Thanks! I like her character too, just because it's complex. You'll learn more about her with time, I assure you. What's TSC? I might know and I'll probably feel stupid in a second here. Oh, I feel your pain on learner's permits, hope it goes well!**


	13. Trouble At The Tower

**Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter. JK. JK Rowling, that is ;)**

The fact that Harry Potter was going out with Ginny Weasley seemed to interest a great number of people, most of them girls, yet Harry appeared to have found himself newly and happily impervious to gossip over the next few weeks. Levina could only feel pride stir within herself for the couple, accompanied by an inner victory. She'd known for a while that something would happen between the two eventually, and she often had to swallow the urge to say, "I told you so" every five seconds.

Levina wasn't sure whether to be frightened or relieved, for Harry still hadn't mentioned the whole bathroom scene at all. She wondered if he was doing it for her sake, or if he just didn't want to argue with her more.

"You'd think people had better things to gossip about," said Ginny, as she sat on the common-room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. "Three Dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest."

Ron, Levina, and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them.

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail," said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. "Much more macho."

Levina remembered Eric having a tattoo of a dragon across his arm and chest, and she smirked at the thought.

"Thanks," said Harry, grinning. "And what did you tell her Ron's got?"

"A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where."

Ron scowled as Hermione and Levina rolled around laughing.

"Watch it," he said, pointing warningly at Harry and Ginny. "Just because I've given my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it—"

"'Your permission' ", scoffed Ginny. "Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean."

"Yeah, I would," said Ron grudgingly. "And just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public-"

"You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?" demanded Ginny. "And besides, I don't see you going around demanding that Fred ask your permission before dating 'Lev-Lev'."

Levina covered a burning red blush that crossed her face, but, secretly, she was pleased; recently, Fred had begun shortening Levina's name more, to mimic Ron's previous nickname for Lavender, "Lav-Lav." In most of her letters from him, he used the shortened version of her name a lot, much to Ron's annoyance.

But Ron's tolerance was not to be tested much as they moved into June, for Harry and Ginny's time together was becoming increasingly restricted. Ginny's O.W.L.s were approaching and she was therefore forced to revise for hours into the night. On one such evening, when Ginny had retired to the library and Harry and Levina were sitting beside the window in the common room, supposedly finishing their Herbology home-work but in reality daydreaming about their boyfriend and girlfriend, Hermione dropped into the seat between Levina and Ron with an unpleasantly purposeful look on her face.

"I want to talk to you, Harry."

"What about?" said Harry suspiciously.

"The so-called Half-Blood Prince," said Hermione, and Levina stiffened. She'd been hoping to avoid this particular subject and tip-toe her way around it.

"Oh, not again," he groaned. "Will you please drop it?"

Harry had hidden the book in the Room of Requirement the day he and Draco dueled in the bathroom. Levina was glad it was gone because she didn't want to discuss it any longer, but now Hermione was fueling the fire once again.

"I'm not dropping it," said Hermione firmly, "until you've heard me out. Now, I've been trying to find out a bit about who might make a hobby of inventing Dark spells—"

"He didn't make a hobby of it-"

"He, he—who says it's a he?"

"We've been through this," said Harry crossly. "Prince, Hermione, Prince!"

"Right!" said Hermione, red patches blazing in her cheeks as she pulled a very old piece of newsprint out of her pocket and slammed it down on the table in front of Harry. "Look at that! Look at the picture!"

Harry picked up the crumbling piece of paper and stared at the moving photograph, yellowed with age; Ron and Levina leaned over for a look, too. The picture showed a skinny girl of around fifteen. She was not pretty; she looked simultaneously cross and sullen, with heavy brows and a long, pallid face. Underneath the photograph was the caption: Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team.

"So?" said Harry, and Levina peered over his shoulder to scan the short news item to which the picture belonged; it was a rather dull story about inter-school competitions.

"Her name was Eileen Prince. Prince, Harry."

They looked at each other and Harry realized what Hermione was trying to say. He burst out laughing.

"No way."

"What?"

"You think she was the Half-Blood...? Oh, come on."

"Well, why not? Harry, there aren't any real princes in the wizarding world! It's either a nickname, a made-up title somebody's given themselves, or it could be their actual name, couldn't it? No, listen! If, say, her father was a wizard whose surname was 'Prince', and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a 'half-blood Prince'!"

"Yeah, very ingenious, Hermione ..."

"But it would! Maybe she was proud of being half a Prince!"

"Listen, Hermione, I can tell it's not a girl. I can just tell."

"The truth is that you don't think a girl would have been clever enough," said Hermione angrily.

"How can I have hung round with you for five years and not think girls are clever?" said Harry, obviously stung by this.

"And me?" said Levina.

"Well…you fall under the less clever category."

"Hey!" said Levina, punching his shoulder playfully.

"It's the way he writes. I just know the Prince was a bloke, I can tell. This girl hasn't got anything to do with it. Where did you get this, anyway?"

"The library," said Hermione, predictably. "There's a whole collection of old Prophets up there. Well, I'm going to find out more about Eileen Prince if I can."

"Enjoy yourself," said Harry irritably.

"I will," said Hermione. "And the first place I'll look," she shot at him, as she reached the portrait hole, "is records of old Potions awards!"

Harry scowled after her for a moment, then continued his contemplation of the darkening sky.

"She's just never got over you outperforming her in Potions," said Ron, returning to his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"You don't think I'm mad, wanting that book back, do you?"

"Course not," said Ron robustly. "He was a genius, the Prince. Anyway…without his bezoar tip…he drew his finger significantly across his own throat, then Levina's, "I wouldn't be here to discuss it, would I? Nor would Levina. I mean, I'm not saying that spell you used on Malfoy was great—"

Levina flinched.

"Nor am I," said Harry quickly.

"But he healed all right, didn't he? Back on his feet in no time."

"Thanks to Snape…"

"You still got detention with Snape this Saturday?" Ron continued.

"Yeah, and the Saturday after that, and the Saturday after that," sighed Harry. "And he's hinting now that if I don't get all the boxes done by the end of term, we'll carry on next year."

"Are you mad at me?"

The words had slipped out before Levina could stop them. Had Harry and Ron not both stared at her, she would have thought someone else had said it. She'd wanted for some time to say something to Harry, finding their overly-normal relationship almost frightening.

Harry looked up at her in slight surprise. "Why would I be?"

"Because…well, I wasn't exactly on your side, was I? When Draco…" she trailed off uneasily.

"Well, you weren't on his, either," said Harry coolly. She could tell he was making an effort to not start an argument.

"Oh. Okay. Well…good."

There was a small pause, but before Levina could even sigh in relief, Harry said, "So, what were you two talking about?"

Levina grit her teeth. "Well, I was trying to get him to tell me what was wrong, and…" she bit her lip, ready for the storm. "And so we made an agreement. If I showed him the scars on my arm and explained what they were, he'd do the same. He knows I'm a Werewolf now."

All traces of calamity dropped from Harry's face. _"What?"_

"You told _Malfoy?" _demanded Ron.

"Yes, I did, but—" Levina spluttered.

"But nothing!" said Harry hotly. "Levina, that wasn't a smart idea in the least—do you know how many people he might go off and tell now?"

"He wouldn't," said Levina confidently, trying to shove down whatever uncertain thoughts were stirring.

"And wait…did you say _his _arm, too?" said Ron, bemused. "I find it hard to believe Umbridge would have made him write something on his arm…"

"Yeah," said Levina, turning with dark, slit eyes to look at Harry, "and if you hadn't come in and ruined it, then I would have seen what it was! He was about to show me his arm, which could have very well been—"

"The Dark Mark!" said Harry, slapping his forehead. "How could I have been so—? Levina, you _have _to go talk to him again—try and get him to show you—"

"Well, even if he did, I wouldn't tell you anything!" said Levina.

Harry stared at her, shocked. "Why not?"

"Because he trusts me!"

"So?"

"So I can't betray his trust!"

"Why not, Levina? You can't trust him! He's a Slytherin—"

"That excuse is getting old—"

"Levina, we're your friends!" Harry protested. "Or have you forgotten that?"

"Harry—" said Ron warningly.

"And so is Draco! I don't go around backstabbing my friends, okay? Is that _so _hard for you to comprehend?" Levina could feel tears welling up in her eyes at Harry's anger.

But what frightened her the most was the look in Harry's eyes before he spoke. "Us or him."

"What?"

"Choose," said Harry calmly. "Do you want to be friends with us, or Malfoy? Make your choice."

"Harry?" said Ron, looking alarmed. "What are you—?"

"I'm not going to pick between you—" said Levina, hurt.

"Then you've just chosen him."

"I-I-that's not fair!" said Levina childishly, practically stamping her feet in fury. "You shouldn't be the one to decide who I hang out with!"

"Guys—" said Ron weakly.

"I don't get it! I just don't. You two were rivals from the moment you met, and after six years, you're suddenly best friends? That just doesn't work, okay?"

"People change—"

"No, Levina, they don't!" Harry snarled. "Malfoy's the same little weasel he's always been, and you're just falling into his trap! He's using you, deceiving you, and planning something right under your nose, you and I both know that, and you still refuse to accept the truth even though it's right in front of you!"

"_SHUT UP!"_ Levina shrieked so loudly that her own ears hurt, and the glass windows around them shattered violently, sending a shower of glass shards onto them. The only other people in the room were a couple of first years, who screamed and fled into the dormitories. Fresh tears welled up in the corner of her eyes as her entire world crumbled around her. "You don't understand, Harry, you just don't! Maybe if you weren't such a complete arse, then you'd comprehend what I'm trying to say!"

Harry looked stunned, rooted on the spot, but he nevertheless opened his mouth. "I just don't see why you're so defensive toward him, okay? I mean, you act like you're in love or something—"

Levina opened her mouth, but no words followed. Harry had backed her into a corner.

"Levina?" said Harry suspiciously. He'd struck a nerve with her.

"I just—I just wish you'd leave me out of this," said Levina in a soft voice, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"I'm…sorry," said Harry, sighing as he swallowed his pride. Ron looked between the two of them, alarmed.

"Levina, you just broke a window," he pointed out, his eyes wide.

"Why thank you, Mr. Observant," said Levina, but a stir of guilt immediately arose in her.

"That was the other thing," said Harry, eyeing Levina cautiously. "During the whole Sectumsempra deal…I saw something."

"What?" said Levina, praying he would just drop it already.

"When you were kneeling beside him, before Snape came in? Your eyes…" he trailed off.

"What, what?"

"They flashed golden," said Harry, and both Levina's and Ron's jaws dropped.

"They changed to gold?" said Levina in a hushed voice.

"It was kind of…frightening. Your eyes had narrowed down, and something had changed in them, besides the obvious. They weren't just a different color, it was as though they themselves were angry. I thought you were about to attack me or something. Your eyes were so…dark. You looked like you wanted to tear me apart."

Levina's body gave a great tremble at the thought. "What? I…no! Never…I mean, I would never…" she trailed off, realizing she was making no sense. Had she really lost herself _that _much over the ordeal? "I would never hurt you," she finally managed, but she felt she was saying it more so to just reassure herself.

She thought back to the time when they found out Lupin was a werewolf, how Ron had shouted at him to get away from him, how terrified his voice had been…She didn't want to strike fear in her friends. Not in _anyone. _If anything, she'd been doing her best to prove to people the opposite, that she was a good person…But Lupin said the golden eyes were the first sign of losing control. Would she be able to keep her anger level down, or was Harry right? _Would _she have hurt him, had he continued to push her too far?

"I know you wouldn't," said Harry, "and I wish you'd stop looking at me like that. Ron and I both know you would never do anything."

But Ron looked a lot less certain than Harry. The very idea of Levina losing control of herself had apparently struck fear in him.

"I'm sorry," said Levina.

"Don't apologize," Harry snapped. "It's not your fault."

"Can we please just stop talking about this?" Levina begged. "I'm sick of us going around and around about the whole thing."

"You're the one who brought it up," Ron began, but Harry shot him a warning look and he stopped talking.

Levina leaned back in her chair, her expression dismal. Her sixth year was certainly less fun than what she'd hoped for. She thought she would enjoy it more, seeing as her O. were over, but nothing seemed to be going according to plan.

_Maybe I'll send a letter to Destiny, _she thought, but then decided against it; it wasn't that she didn't like her cousin, but lately, she'd been going on and on and on about all of the guys that kept asking her out, following her around the school, and offering to do her homework for her. Destiny told her all she ever did was flip her hair, smile brightly, and ask politely. Then, everyone would bend to her half-Siren will. Levina tried this advice once, catching a cute Ravenclaw boy in the library, but upon tossing her hair back, she managed to knock over an ink bottle, which ruined his essay.

Sometimes she felt jealous of Destiny. She couldn't really help it…The girl was naturally breathtaking, and guys seemed to fall head-over-heels for her charms. Levina tried to not pity herself, considering she had the best thing in the world: Fred Weasley. And yet, she couldn't suppress the dark envy that arose in her.

She was shaken from these bitter thoughts by the appearance at Harry's side of Jimmy Peakes, who was holding out a scroll of parchment.

"Thanks, Jimmy…hey, it's from Dumbledore!" said Harry excitedly, unrolling the parchment and scanning it. "He wants me to go to his office as quick as I can!"

Levina, Ron, and Harry exchanged a look. "Blimey," whispered Ron. "You don't reckon…he hasn't found...?"

"Better go and see, hadn't I?" said Harry, jumping to his feet.

"Good luck," said Levina, watching him vanish through the portrait hole.

Now that they were alone, Ron looked slightly nervous, his eyes going from Levina to the broken glass shards and back.

"Oh, come on," said Levina, kicking up her feet on the table in front of her. "So I broke a few windows. Happens sometimes. I'll fix them." She thought _Reparo! _and the glass pieces rose up from the ground and collected together, returning to their place on the window.

"Well, you can't blame me," said Ron defensively. "I mean, if you really do have all this uncontrollable power that everyone says you do—"

"Says who?" Levina snapped. "No one ever talks about it anymore, so why do we have to? People don't remember me. I want things to remain like they are."

This, of course, was a big fat lie. Levina knew subconsciously, in the very back of her mind, that she missed all of the attention. _Never know what you got till it's gone, _she thought, leaning back in her chair.

At that moment, they were spared any further awkward tension as Hermione returned to the room.

"Hi," she said breathlessly, dropping into a seat. "Where's Harry?"

"Got a letter from Dumbledore," said Ron, and Hermione turned to face him, alert.

"What? Did it say anything in it?"

"No, just that he had to go meet him," said Levina.

Hermione, Ron, and Levina gathered around the fire, staring into it in combined silence. It wasn't long before Harry returned, looking winded and out of breath.

"What does Dumbledore want?" Hermione said at once. "Harry, are you okay?" she added anxiously.

"I'm fine," said Harry shortly, racing past them. He dashed up the stairs and into his dormitory, leaving the trio staring curiously after him, and then he sped back down the stairs and into the common room, skidding to a halt where Ron, Levina, and Hermione sat, looking stunned.

"I haven't got much time," Harry panted, "Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak. Listen…"

Quickly he told them where he was going, and why. He did not pause either for Hermione's gasps of horror, Levina's comments, or for Ron's hasty questions; they could work out the finer details for themselves later.

"...so you see what this means?" Harry finished at a gallop. "Dumbledore won't be here tonight, so Malfoy's going to have another clear shot at whatever he's up to. No, listen to me!" he hissed angrily, as Levina, Ron, and Hermione showed every sign of interrupting. "I know it was Malfoy I hear celebrating in the Room of Requirement before. Here—" He shoved the Marauder's Map into Hermione's hand. "You've got to watch him and you've got to watch Snape, too. Use anyone else who you can rustle up from the DA. Hermione, those contact Galleons will still work, right? Dumbledore says he's put extra protection in the school, but if Snape's involved, he'll know what Dumbledore's protection is, and how to avoid it—but he won't be expecting you lot to be on the watch, will he?"

"Harry—" began Hermione, her eyes huge with fear.

"I haven't got time to argue," said Harry curtly. "Take this as well—" He thrust the socks into Ron's hands.

"Thanks," said Ron. "Er—why do I need socks?"

"You need what's wrapped in them, it's the Felix Felicis. Share it between yourselves and Ginny too. Say goodbye to her from me. I'd better go, Dumbledore's waiting—"

"No!" said Hermione, as Ron unwrapped the tiny little bottle of golden potion, looking awestruck. "We don't want it, you take it, who knows what you're going to be facing?"

"I'Il be fine, I'll be with Dumbledore," said Harry. "I want to know you lot are okay…don't look like that, Hermione, I'll see you later!"

"But—" Levina protested.

And he was off, hurrying back through the portrait hole, vanishing from sight.

"Blimey," said Ron with a deep frown, "you don't actually think we should—?"

"Give me the Marauder's Map," said Levina, snatching it from Hermione. She didn't want to believe that Draco was behind it, but she had to be certain of it. She scanned the map over and over again, but she couldn't find Draco's name anywhere on it. Her heart sank.

"Where is he?" said Ron.

"Not on the map," said Levina in a defeated voice. "He must be in the Room of Requirement."

"I'll gather up some members from the DA," said Hermione, hurrying up into the girls' dormitory.

"Check the guy's dorm," said Levina to Ron, "and then meet me at the Room of Requirement, okay?"

Levina raced through the common room hole, leaving Ron gaping after her. She tripped over her robes going down the stairs, and passing mirrors told her that her rushed appearance was not kind, but she continued following the map. When she reached the hallway of the Room of Requirement, she gazed around, seeing if anyone was nearby, panting heavily as her breath slowly returned. Then she spotted someone: A figure was standing not far from the door, holding something in their hands, looking down. Levina hastily unraveled the map to see who it was: Eternity Russel.

"Hey, you!" Levina shouted; what was _she _doing there? If that wasn't suspicious, she didn't know what was.

Eternity looked up from the object she was examining. "Oh, hi, Levina."

"Don't 'hi, Levina', me!" said Levina, coming to a halt in front of the Slytherin girl. "What are you doing here? Helping your cousin?"

The Levina in Levina's head that denied Draco was involved in anything began shrieking at her for the accusation, but the Levina that had listened to Harry's words intently was egging her on, voicing her opinion louder than the denial one.

"My cousin?" said Eternity, her expression honestly bemused. "What are you—?"

"What's that in your hand?" Levina demanded, her eyes in slits.

Eternity blinked. Then she held it out so that Levina could see what it was: A newspaper.

"I guess you heard about mum, then," said Eternity.

"I—wait…" Levina stared blankly down at the copy of _The Daily Prophet. _The headline was: _"Notorious Lydia Russell escapes Azkaban." _It was accompanied by a picture of a woman. She had messy blond hair sticking out in all directions, a thin, gaunt figure, and the same blue eyes as Destiny.

"I can't stop reading it," said Eternity, biting the nail on her pinky finger. "It's not healthy."

Forgetting about Draco, Levina pressed her for more: "When did you figure it out?"

"Probably on the same day you did…In the morning, when we got the owl mail…It's making me sick," she added, and Levina noticed she did look rather pale.

"Are you going to…_do_ anything?" said Levina hesitantly.

Eternity stopped biting her nail and looked up at Levina. "Like what?"

"I dunno…talk to her?"

"Why would I? Not like she really remembers she has a daughter."

Levina realized she was getting off track. "Wait, why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be in your common room?"

"My sister had to use the bathroom," said Eternity. "I was hoping to use the Room of Requirement as one, but it seems someone's already in there."

Levina's heart skipped a beat; someone like _Draco, _perhaps? Before she could say anything more, a second, smaller voice said, "'Nity? I found one down this hall."

A small girl peered around the corner, then gave a small gasp at the sight of Levina. She had the same cherry-red hair as Eternity, but her eyes were brown, not blue.

"It's all right, Riley," said Eternity, motioning for the girl to come forward. "This is my little sister. Riley, this is Levina."

"I know that," said Riley, but she didn't move forward from her spot around the corner.

"So, what's your excuse?" said Eternity to Levina, turning back to her. "For being down here."

"None of your business," said Levina shortly.

Eternity rolled her eyes. "Nothing ever is. Come on, Riley…"

Levina attempted unsuccessfully to suppress guilt as she watched Eternity take her sister by the hand, glance back once at Levina, and vanish down the hallway. Eternity had never mentioned a sister before; she wondered if Riley was also a Slytherin. And what if Eternity was still lying? What if she had been helping Draco only moments before she'd arrived?

"Levina!"

Ron appeared at her side, accompanied by Ginny and Neville.

"Hermione and Luna are going to get Snape," said Ron.

"Oh, good," said Levina, her previous thoughts dissolving. "Do you have the Felix Felicis?"

"Yeah," said Ron, unraveling Harry's socks. "Want to take it now?"

"May as well," said Levina, taking a swig from it before handing it to Neville. "Harry's orders."

"Where should we stand?" said Ginny as she drank some of the liquid.

"Keep watch on that side," said Levina, pointing to the left. "You and Neville. Ron, you take the right. I'll stand outside the door."

"Directly in front of it?" said Ron uneasily.

"Yeah. I can handle Malfoy," said Levina confidently, "if that's who it is," she added in a whisper, letting her hopeful side kick in. "Now, don't take your eyes off of the door."

But nothing happened for quite some time. Levina eventually found herself sinking to her knees steadily, and Neville had already sat down on the floor, his elbows on his knees. Ron kept yawning. Levina checked her watch; they'd been standing there for about an hour.

"Anyone else think we should just…?" Ron began, but at that moment, the door to the Room of Requirement swung open.

Levina sprang to her knees, wand out. A pale blond head peered out, and two grey eyes met Levina's. Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway, clutching His Hand of Glory, a shriveled hand that only gives light to the holder.

Although part of her knew that it would be him, another cynical part of her had still been reassuring herself that it could be someone else. Torn, her wand shook in her hand and, in her split-second hesitation, Draco threw something at her. Levina sprang back as darkness swarmed up around her, clouding her vision so that she couldn't see anything.

"Draco!" she shouted, and she felt someone brush past her. _"Lumos!" _she added, but her wand had no effect on the black.

"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder!" Ron yelled.

"_Incendio!" _Levina could hear the jinx clearly, but it wasn't out loud. Ginny had thought the jinx to herself.

"Where is he?"

"That was my foot!"

Levina's canine ears suddenly picked up on something: The sound of many feet running, pounding against the floor. Realization hit her harder than a train, crashing through her denial and hitting her in the face with reality: Death Eaters. Draco Malfoy had brought Death Eaters into the school.

Levina's heart couldn't have felt more battered up. It was as though Draco had taken it, ripped it in half, and stomped all over it. After all he said to her, after all the trust…He'd done exactly what Harry said he would, and he'd brought Death Eaters into Hogwarts. He knew they would kill students. He knew they would kill friends. He knew they would kill _her._

No…it couldn't be. Levina's mind fought to wrap around the idea that Harry had been right all along…that Draco was never her friend, but rather, had used her. He had tricked her right under her nose. Could it really be that only hours ago, she was defending him with all her heart? She was nothing to him. _Nothing._

Anger flaring up and blinding her already darkened eyes, Levina followed the sounds of the footsteps down the hallway. She could hear the Death Eater's silent jinxes in their heads, echoing in her own. Her lip curled; with the combined sounds of Ron, Neville, and Ginny, she couldn't hear whose were whose.

Eventually, she reached a light at the end of the hallway, where the others were standing, panting in exhaustion.

"We need to—we need to—" Levina spluttered.

"What's happened?"

Levina looked up into the face of none other than Eric Levesque.

"Eric?" Levina demanded. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm part of the Order of the Phoenix now," said Eric, his lip moving upward into a half-smile. "But never mind that. What's going on?"

Everyone began talking all at once.

"The Death Eaters—"

"Malfoy—"

"Harry said—"

"Dumbledore's—"

"Slow down," said another familiar voice; Lupin materialized at Eric's shoulder, looking concerned. "One at a time."

"Draco's brought Death Eaters into the school," said Levina hurriedly. "They're headed in that direction—" she pointed toward where she could hear their footsteps echoing.

"Damn," said Eric, drawing his wand. "Where's Tonks? We need to get everyone we can—"

"No time!" shouted Levina. "Just come on!"

The group raced down the hallway at top speed, but it wasn't long before they ran into the group of Death Eaters; they were grouped together, headed for the stairs to the Astronomy tower. Levina could see Draco's pale blond head sticking out among them.

"OI! MALFOY!" Levina hollered as loud as her lungs would allow. "OVER HERE, YOU DIRTY ROTTEN BINGER ARSEHOLE!"

Draco whirled around to face her in mid-step, his grey eyes stretched wide in shock. That's when the fight broke out.

Jinxes and curses flew left and right, and Levina ducked to avoid being hit by what she was sure was a Killing Curse. Tonks and Lupin were now together, fighting side-by-side. Levina could see some figures moving up the stairs, as well as Draco, but when Neville tried to, he was flung backward by some invisible force.

Levina got to her feet and began sending every jinx she could think of at the stairs, attempting to break it. She ran straight for it at top speed and was hurled backwards, where she landed at Eric's feet, her head pounding in pain.

It was impossible to tell whose jinx was whose, or what was going on, for that matter. Levina was hit by several flying spells, one of which knocked her out cold for at least a minute, but she was able to disarm and paralyze a couple of the Death Eaters.

"Look out!" shouted Eric, seizing Levina by the shoulders and pulling her out of the way of a Cruciatus curse.

"Thanks," Levina panted, her red hair flying about her shoulders, but she barely had any time to react before a second curse soared over her head, missing her by inches.

_This is bad, this is bad, _thought Levina, countering jinx after jinx. A horrible guilt sensation overwhelmed her as she dodged another red spark. If she hadn't trusted Draco, had been able to see his Dark Mark, had trusted Harry…would any of this be happening? She felt horribly deceived, betrayed, and hurt. _Never _trust a Slytherin. Never.

Suddenly, a blue spark knocked Levina upside the head and she fell heavily to the floor near the stairs of the tower. Moaning, she blinked her eyes wearily and attempted to move her arms, but she felt paralyzed. In fact, her entire body felt frozen in place. Her sight was blurred and her hearing sounded distant, maybe muffled. _Merde, _thought Levina. If she didn't move soon, she or someone else might be killed—

However, a pair of hands went under Levina's arms and lifted her up. For a moment, she thought Eric had come to her rescue once again, but she saw, through blurry vision, that the black-haired boy was currently dueling with a lanky Death Eater near Lupin.

Someone shouted something; Ron ran directly at Levina, his wand drawn, but he was knocked aside by another Death Eater. Horrified, Levina realized she was being dragged up the tower steps. She summoned all the willpower she could muster to try and moved, to pull away, but she remained petrified. Whoever was pulling her knew what they were doing, for Levina wasn't flung back by the force field in front of the steps, but rather, went straight through it.

"Famous Levina Snowpetal, tripped up by a simple little spell," said a sneering female voice. Levina couldn't turn her head to see who it was, but it was coming from the person dragging her. "Pitiful. I expected better from you, half-breed."

She was forced through the tower door and she toppled over, but her capturer grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back to her feet.

Levina was in the Astronomy tower now, but to her horror, it was filled with Death Eater after Death Eater. Draco was standing nearby, his wand clenched in his hand and pointed at none other than Dumbledore himself.

"Lookie what the cat dragged in," said one of the Death Eaters gleefully. The others turned to ogle at Levina, whose eyes were watering now; the Death Eater holding her was still pulling on her hair painfully tight.

Draco turned sharply to look at Levina, and his grey eyes met her own brown ones. Levina forced herself to look away defiantly, attempting to suppress any stray tears. The prat, the little git, making Levina believe he actually cared about her…

She wished she could talk. She wished she could move, so she could kick the stupid Slytherin as hard as she could, and tell him how much she hated him, for making her actually stick up for him.

"Found this one downstairs," said the Death Eater; she moved slightly, lifting Levina higher into the air. Levina could see her now, out of the corner of her eye: She had messy, very wild blond hair and familiar blue eyes. It was Lydia Russell herself.

One of the Death Eaters cackled. "Snowpetal, huh? Thought we forgots about yous, did ya? Huh?" he added to Levina, who cringed.

"Productive night, eh? Finish off Dumbledore and bring the Dark lord a lil' present?" jeered another.

"Didn't even put up no fight. Little half-breed mutt's not worth nothin'," sneered Lydia. "Think she's even worth the trouble? Or you lot think we should finish her off here?"

"Let me do it," said a big, rangy man with matted grey hair and whiskers, whose black Death Eater's robes looked uncomfortably tight. He had a voice like none that Levina had ever heard: a rasping bark of a voice. Levina could smell a powerful mixture of dirt, sweat and, unmistakably, of blood coming from him. His filthy hands had long yellowish nails. "Let me have the girl…"

"She's a werewolf, too, you know," said Lydia, running a long fingernail across Levina's neck.

"Look like I care?" said the man, looking keenly at Levina with ravenous eyes.

"Is that you, Fenrir?" asked Dumbledore.

"That's right," rasped the other. "Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?"

"No, I cannot say that I am…"

Fenrir Greyback grinned, showing pointed teeth. Blood trickled down his chin and he licked his lips slowly, obscenely.

"But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore."

"Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual…you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?"

"That's right," said Greyback. "Shocks you, that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?"

"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little," said Dumbledore. "And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live..."

"I didn't," breathed Draco. He was not looking at Greyback; he did not seem to want to even glance at him. He was instead looking directly at Levina, his expression anxious. "I didn't know he was going to come—"

"I wouldn't want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore," rasped Greyback. "Not when there are throats to be ripped out…delicious, delicious…"

And he raised a yellow fingernail and picked at his front teeth, leering at Dumbledore.

"I could do you for afters, Dumbledore..."

"No," said the fourth Death Eater sharply. He had a heavy, brutal-looking face. "We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco, and quickly. So we can deal with this one." He gestured to Levina.

"Just let me have her," said Greyback hungrily, and Levina trembled in fear at the eagerness of his voice. "That luscious skin is just begging to be ripped apart—you know how much I love blood—"

Draco was showing less resolution than ever. He looked terrified as he stared at Levina, horrified at Greybeck's words, and he stared into Dumbledore's face, which was even paler, and rather lower than usual, as he had slid so far down the rampart wall.

"He's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!" said the lopsided man, to the accompaniment of his sister's wheezing giggles. "Look at him—what's happened to you, then, Dumby?"

"Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus," said Dumbledore. "Old age, in short…one day, perhaps, it will happen to you…if you are lucky…"

"What's that mean, then, what's that mean?" yelled the Death Eater, suddenly violent. "Always the same, weren't yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing, I don't even know why the Dark Lord's bothering to kill yeh! Come on, Draco, do it!"

But at that moment, there were renewed sounds of scuffling from below and a voice shouted, "They've blocked the stairs—Reducto! REDUCTO!"

"Now, Draco, quickly!" said the brutal-faced man angrily.

But Draco's hand was shaking so badly that he could barely aim.

"I'll do it," snarled Greyback, moving towards Dumbledore with his hands outstretched, his teeth bared.

"I said no!" shouted the brutal-faced man; there was a flash of light and the werewolf was blasted out of the way; he hit the ramparts and staggered, looking furious.

"Draco, do it, or stand aside so one of us—" screeched the woman, but at that precise moment the door to the ramparts burst open once more and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as his black eyes swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and Draco.

"We've got a problem, Snape," said the lumpy Amycus, whose eyes and wand were fixed alike upon Dumbledore, "the boy doesn't seem able—"

But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.

"Severus…"

The sound frightened Levina beyond anything she had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.

Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Draco roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed.

Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.

"Severus…please…"

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Levina's scream forced its way through the petrifying spell and pierced the air, as she was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.

**So? Enjoy the chapter, despite how Levina's heart was tossed around like a potato?**

**Anyway, leave reviews, as always, and I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can!**


	14. Heartbroken

**Disclaimer: I own Levina! And any other unrecognizable characters. So…yeah.**

Levina felt as though she too were hurtling through space; it had not happened...it could not have happened...

"Out of here, quickly," said Snape.

"What about this one?" said Lydia, holding up Levina by her hair, earning another wince from her.

Snape looked between the two with dark eyes, his expression strangely conflicted. "Just—"

But at that moment, Lydia had made a fitting mistake: By pulling Levina up by the hair once again, she'd accidentally yanked off her necklace. Considering how Levina already had ten thousand emotions swirling about, taking the necklace off was the final blow; she jerked away from Lydia, kicking her backwards roughly against the wall, where she fell in a heap. She caught her necklace mid-fall and turned on Draco, eyes ablaze.

Snape seized Draco by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the door ahead of the rest; Levina ran after them, ducking under the spells and curses now flying over her head, all too aware of Fenrir's hot breath on her heels. Her thoughts were blinded by two desires: To rip Snape and Draco apart.

She leapt the last ten steps of the spiral staircase and stopped where she landed, her wand raised. The dimly lit corridor was full of dust; half the ceiling seemed to have fallen in; and a battle was raging before her, but even as she attempted to make out who were fighting whom, she heard the hated voice shout, "It's over, time to go!" and saw Snape disappearing around the corner at the far end of the corridor; he and Draco seemed to have forced their way through the fight unscathed.

Levina now saw red hair flying like flames in front of her: Ginny was locked in combat with the lumpy Death Eater, Amycus, who was throwing hex after hex at her while she dodged them: Amycus was giggling, enjoying the sport: "Crucio—Crucio—you can't dance forever, pretty—"

"Impedimenta!" yelled a voice before Levina could even lift her wand; Harry appeared at Levina's side, his expression enraged.

"Harry!" said Levina, but he ran past her at top speed; had he seen what she had at the tower? She wanted to talk to them, but there wasn't any time. She had to get moving…

His jinx hit Amycus in the chest: he gave a piglike squeal of pain, was lifted off his feet and slammed into the opposite wall, slid down it, and fell out of sight behind Ron, Professor McGonagall, and Lupin, each of whom was battling a separate Death Eater. Beyond them, Levina saw Tonks fighting an enormous blond wizard who was sending curses flying in all directions, so that they ricocheted off the walls around them, cracking stone, shattering the nearest window—

"Harry, where did you come from?" Ginny cried, but he ignored her as well. Levina continued to run, knowing fully well that other Death Eaters were not far behind her, including Lydia, who would most certainly want the little half-breed dead.

"Take that!" shouted Professor McGonagall, and Levina glimpsed the female Death Eater, Alecto, sprinting away down the corridor with her arms over her head, her brother right behind her.

Levina turned to help, wand at the ready, but someone seized the hem of her skirt tightly and she looked down, prepared to attack. It wasn't a Death Eater, however, but Eric, lying in a pool of what she assumed was his own blood.

"Eric!" Levina squealed, bending to help him, but he shook his head.

"I'm fine—mostly Death Eater blood—Snape and Malfoy—they're—"he spluttered, pointing one finger toward a staircase, his handsome face scratched up.

"I'm on it—Ron, come help him—" Levina ordered, and before he could ask, she took off down the marble staircase. She was halfway down when she realized she had her necklace clenched in her hand, and she hastily stuffed it in her pocket. No sense getting rid of her newfound strength now…

She pelted toward a shortcut, hoping to overtake the brother and sister and close in on Snape and Draco, who must surely have reached the grounds by now. Remembering to leap the vanishing step halfway down the concealed staircase, she burst through a tapestry at the bottom and out into a corridor where a number of bewildered and pajama-clad Hufflepuffs stood.

"Levina! We heard a noise, then Harry ran by, and someone said something about the Dark Mark—" began Ernie Macmillan.

_"Move it!"_ yelled Levina, knocking two boys aside as she sprinted toward the landing and down the remainder of the marble staircase. She felt alive with strength, feeling as though her energy tank was filled to the max. Honestly, she felt ten times better without the necklace, and she wondered to herself if it was still worth wearing it.

The oak front doors had been blasted open, there were smears of blood on the flagstones, and several terrified students stood huddled against the walls, one or two still cowering with their arms over their faces. The giant Gryffindor hourglass had been hit by a curse, and the rubies within were still falling, with a loud rattle, onto the flagstones below. One of them made a small slit on Levina's cheek and she winced, reaching up to wipe a thin line of blood away.

Levina flew across the entrance hall and out into the dark grounds: she could just make out three figures racing across the lawn, heading for the gates beyond which they could Disapparate—by the looks of them, the huge blond Death Eater and, some way ahead of him, Snape and Draco...

She saw Harry, who was tearing past Hagrid and his own opponent, and he took aim at Snape's back, yelling, "Stupefy!"

He missed; the jet of red light soared past Snape's head; Snape shouted, "Run, Draco!" and turned. Twenty yards apart, he and Harry looked at each other before raising their wands simultaneously.

"Cruc—"

But Snape parried the curse, knocking Harry backward off his feet before he could complete it; Harry rolled over and scrambled back up again as the huge Death Eater behind him yelled, "Incendio!" Levina heard an explosive bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of them: Hagrid's house was on fire.

"Fang's in there, yer evil—!" Hagrid bellowed.

"Hagrid!" Levina turned her attention away from the others and hastily grabbed for her wand. Where was it? She dug around in her robes, trying to get a hold of it, and gave up. _No time. _She turned toward his house, thought hard, and watched, with some awe, as a shower of rain poured down onto Hagrid's house, extinguishing most of the fire. Sighing in relief, she returned to her main target.

"DRACO!"

Draco stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. Levina limped towards him, her eyes flaming with anger.

"Levina—" said Draco, taking a step toward her. "This isn't what—"

"Isn't what?" sneered Levina, sounding like a different person, even to herself. "What it looks like? Right. Sure. You know, you really had me going for a while, with the whole 'friends' thing. You made me really think you cared, you know that? If I hadn't escaped, you would have let the Death Eaters spill my blood, wouldn't you, you bastard?" Levina couldn't stop the tears welling up in her eyes, and she blinked them away furiously.

"Levina—" Draco protested, his grey eyes clearly frightened at the "new" Levina.

"What? Not Snowpetal?" scoffed Levina. "Not Weed? What, after all this, you still have the nerve to call me by what my _friends_ do?"

Draco winced, stung, and real pain emerged in his pale face. "Fine. Snow, then…Please, just listen to me—"

"Don't you think you've done enough damage already?" said Levina, and she hated herself for allowing her voice to shake as she spoke. She clenched her teeth and hands together tightly to keep herself from letting any stray tears fall.

"I just—"

"Go to Hell, Malfoy," said Levina coldly, and Draco looked legitimately hurt.

Suddenly, something massive attacked Levina from the side, knocking the wind out of her. She crashed onto the grass painfully on her side, and rolled onto her back. Someone pinned her to the ground, and she could smell the heavy scent of blood.

"I wasn't finished with you, girly," said the horrible, raspy voice of Fenrir Greyback. He grinned down at her with sharp, pointed fangs.

"NO!" shouted Draco; she could hear the sound of his feet pounding on the ground as he ran toward them, but she couldn't see him any longer.

"You disgust me," said Levina through gritted teeth, as she attempted to push Greyback away.

Greyback laughed coldly. "I get that a lot."

"The Dark Lord needs her!" yelled Draco, who sounded closer nearby to Levina now.

_Yeah, because I'd much rather let Voldemort get my powers and kill all the people I love than die here, _thought Levina sarcastically.

"What do I care? I find an opportunity for fresh meat, I take it," said Greybeck, and he lunged at Levina with sharp, bloody fangs—

"_STOP!"_ Levina could see Draco's distraught and terror-stricken face now through her per feral vision, arms outstretched and wand out, pointed at Greyback, but his help was unnecessary.

Greyback howled in pain and attempted to pry himself away from Levina; at the last second, she'd sunk her own teeth deep into his neck, for in her moment of anger, her teeth had grown sharply into jagged fangs.

"You forget that I'm like you," said Levina, rising to her feet and distastefully wiping blood from her mouth, "but not like you."

Greyback looked furious now. Not far behind him, Draco was staring at Levina with a mixed look of relief and fear.

"Levina, you're—" he began, alarmed grey eyes on her.

"Yeah, I know," said Levina to Draco, but her voice sounded off, distorted somehow. It didn't sound quite…human. "You said you didn't care what species I was, so deal with it, you prat. Oh, wait, that's right," she said, her voice dripping with disdain, "that was a lie, too, wasn't it?"

Before Draco could answer her, she added to Greyback, "And stop looking at me like that, you flea-bitten killer."

That's when he charged. Levina, however, was ready for him. She lunged right back at him, and the two wrestled for a minute, as Levina tried her best to keep her neck away from his jaws. She knew he couldn't change her into his kind of werewolf, as she learned from Lupin, but she could be ripped apart. Levina felt like an animal, like some sort of beast of some kind, as she viciously fought with Greyback, filling the air with the sounds of snarling and yelping. She felt less human than ever before, and she couldn't help but wonder if she was even herself anymore, or if some horrible creature had taken over her body…Levina's finger nails had also grown out, and she raked them across his back.

Greyback shoved her away, hard, and she landed painfully on her shoulder. Before she could get up and attack, she felt a new excruciating pain, and just barely heard the word,_ "Crucio."_

Someone was shrieking, and she was pretty sure it was her—a horribly agony overwhelmed Levina. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before—as though every pain she'd ever felt, from a paper cut to being bitten by Lupin, all combined into one. She was aware of a familiar voice yelling, calling her name in agony—was it real or part of the curse? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that she wanted to run—no, she wanted to die—to die, die fast and get away from it—

But the pain subsided quickly; to her utter surprise, Levina saw, with tear-stained eyes, Greyback fall backwards, knocked out cold. In front of him stood Draco, his wand shakily drawn.

"Dra…" Levina managed, her head pounding, but her vision was coming in and out, and she wasn't sure what was real or not anymore. "…co."

She could feel someone at her side, their warm hand on her wrist. It felt familiar, and she knew at once who it was, but she heard Snape's voice shout, from miles away, "Go, Draco! _Now!_" and the comforting hand vanished, leaving her cold and more alone than ever.

Levina's hearing was also off; she could've sworn she heard the sound of a Hippogriff attacking, pounding massive paws on the ground…She blinked tears away from her eyes so she could see better, but found she was in fact still hearing correctly. Buckbeak was pacing around near Hogwarts' gates, shaking his head in annoyance.

"Levina!"

What struck Levina as odd was that she felt disappointed to hear not Draco's voice, but Harry's. Considering the amount of hatred and horrible betrayal swirling inside of her, she would have thought even the thought of him would anger her.

"All right?" Harry bent down beside her, and she could see that his face was badly bruised and scarred.

"F…fine," Levina mumbled, feeling thoroughly the opposite.

"You look pretty battered up," said Harry, kneeling down beside her.

"I feel like a Beaters' bat," Levina admitted. _At least the wolf is gone, _she thought, glad that, upon running her tongue along her canine teeth, she found her fangs were gone. She assumed her eyes had also been golden before…

It was strange, the way she'd felt while dueling Greyback. The combination of anger and hurt that ran through her almost made her inhuman, not herself. She felt sincerely glad that she hadn't fully changed into her werewolf form, as she was sure she was on the border line of. It was scary, not having full control over her body…Maybe a Cruciatus curse was all she needed to get her head back.

That's when Levina noticed something: Harry was shaking uncontrollably, violently. She pried herself up from the ground, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything to him…or, at least find the right words to say.

"Dumbledore's dead," she said flatly.

"I know," said Harry in a numb voice.

"Hey, yeh two better come inside," said a booming voice, and Hagrid, carrying a very shaken and frightened Fang, approached them. "Looks like yeh migh' need a trip to the hospital wing…"

"Right," said Levina, and as Harry helped her up, allowing her to lean against him, she noticed that he was trembling more than ever.

"All righ', let's go up, then," said Hagrid in a fairly cheerful voice as he walked ahead of them.

"Does Hagrid know?" Levina whispered in Harry's ear.

Harry shook his head slowly.

The oak front doors stood open ahead of them, light flooding out onto the drive and the lawn. Slowly, uncertainly, dressing-gowned people were creeping down the steps, looking around nervously for some sign of the Death Eaters who had fled into the night. Levina's eyes, however, were fixed upon the ground at the foot of the tallest tower. She imagined that she could see a black, huddled mass lying in the grass there, though she was really too far away to see anything of the sort. Even as she stared wordlessly at the place where she thought Dumbledore's body must lie, however, she saw people beginning to move toward it.

"What're they all lookin' at?" said Hagrid, as he, Levina, and Harry approached the castle front, Fang keeping as close as he could to their ankles. "Wha's that lyin' on the grass?" Hagrid added sharply, heading now toward the foot of the Astronomy Tower, where a small crowd was congregating. "See it, Harry? Right at the foot of the tower? Under where the Mark...blimey...yeh don' think someone got thrown—?"

Hagrid fell silent, the thought apparently too horrible to express aloud. Levina limped alongside him, feeling the aches and pains in her face and her legs where the various hexes of the last half hour had hit her, though in an oddly detached way, as though somebody near her was suffering them. What was real and inescapable was the awful pressing feeling in her chest...

Levina distantly heard Hagrid's moan of pain and shock, and she came to a halt, but Harry did not stop; he walked slowly forward until he reached the place where Dumbledore lay and crouched down beside him.

Dumbledore's eyes were closed; but for the strange angle of his arms and legs, he might have been sleeping. Harry reached out, straightened the half-moon spectacles upon the crooked nose, and wiped a trickle of blood from the mouth with his own sleeve. Then he gazed down at the wise old face silently, and Levina could only watch and wonder what he was thinking, what he was feeling…

The crowd murmured behind Harry. All at once, everything began to crash down on Levina's shoulders, with such a force that she sank to her knees heavily, defeated. Snape was gone. Draco was gone. Dumbledore was gone. So many disloyalties, so many lies…Ignoring the crowd around her, Levina's eyes burned with tears, and she hung her head in grief. Tears stained her already-dirty robes, and behind her, Fang began to howl.

That's when she collapsed in a heap, in a dead faint.

…

Levina stirred from what seemed like a very short sleep, blinking sleep and tears from her murky brown eyes. She sat upright, grimaced, decided against it, and laid back down again.

She was in the hospital wing. Levina remembered all too well all of her days spent in the familiar room, for various reasons (Mainly Quidditch), but now, lying groggily on her back with tear-blemished cheeks, the room seemed foreign. Neville was lying in a bed nearby Levina, snoring loudly. Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, and Lupin were gathered around another bed near the far end of the ward.

"Levina!"

Upon seeing Levina stir, Hermione ran hurriedly to Levina's side, pulling her into a rib-crushing hug.

"Ahh—Hermione—" Levina gasped in pain.

"Oh, sorry! Sorry, Levina!" Hermione apologized, releasing her grip on Levina. Her nose was red and her eyes leaked tears. "I'm just—are you okay? I was so scared—"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Levina assured her, but she still couldn't lift her head, which felt heavy. Perhaps landing on it when she fainted didn't help her headache.

"_You faint too much, Lev-Lev," _Fred's amused voice echoed in Levina's mind. _"You're such a damsel in distress, you know?" _Levina wished the voice was real. She wanted Fred there more than anything, so she could press her face up against his chest, wrap her arms around his warm body, and let him reassure her that everything would be okay. She would fake-punch his arm for calling her weak, and then they would laugh about it.

But instead, Levina found no assurance beyond Hermione's scared visage.

Levina inclined her head to the right slightly, so she could see who the others in the room were gathered around, praying it wasn't another death.

She saw an unrecognizable face lying on Bill's pillow, so badly slashed and ripped that he looked grotesque. Madam Pomfrey was dabbing at his wounds with some harsh-smelling green ointment. Levina bit her lip.

"Can't you fix them with a charm or something?" Harry asked the matron.

"No charm will work on these," said Madam Pomfrey. "I've tried everything I know, but there is no cure for werewolf bites."

"But he wasn't bitten at the full moon," said Ron, who was gazing down into his brother's face as though he could somehow force him to mend just by staring. "Greyback hadn't transformed, so surely Bill won't be a—a real—?"

He looked uncertainly at Lupin.

"No, I don't think that Bill will be a true werewolf," said Lupin, "but that does not mean that there won't be some contamination. Those are cursed wounds. They are unlikely ever to heal fully, and—and Bill might have some wolfish characteristics from now on."

Levina smirked in her head. 'Wolfish' characteristics was her middle name.

"Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," Ron said. "Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders, Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state—"

"Ron—Dumbledore's dead," said Ginny.

"No!" Lupin looked wildly from Ginny to Harry, as though hoping the latter might contradict her, but when Harry did nor, Lupin collapsed into a chair beside Bill's bed, his hands over his face. Levina had never seen Lupin lose control before; she felt as though she was intruding upon something private, indecent. She turned away to look at the bed beside her.

Eric Levesque was lying there, his eyes closed, but not asleep. He had a deep cut across the bridge of his nose, and he was bruised up and bandaged along his arms and chest, but otherwise, he seemed okay. She felt a guilty stir in her stomach, knowing she could have stayed behind and helped him, instead of pointlessly chasing Draco and getting into an unnecessary fight with Greyback.

"How did he die?" whispered Tonks. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him," said Harry. "I was there, I saw it. We arrived back on the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was...Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realized it was a trap when we heard footsteps running up the stairs. He immobilized me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak—and then Malfoy came through the door and disarmed him—"

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth and Ron groaned. Luna's mouth trembled. Levina bit her lip so hard that it bled.

"—more Death Eaters arrived-and then Snape—and Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra." Harry said nothing more.

Madam Pomfrey burst into tears. Nobody paid her any attention except Ginny, who whispered, "Shh! Listen!"

Gulping, Madam Pomfrey pressed her fingers to her mouth, her eyes wide. Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way Levina had never heard before: a stricken lament of terrible beauty.

How long they all stood there, listening, she did not know, nor why it seemed to ease their pain a little to listen to the sound of their mourning, but it felt like a long time later that the hospital door opened again and Professor McGonagall entered the ward. Like all the rest, she bore marks of the recent battle: there were grazes on her face and her robes were ripped. Beside her walked Uncle Nicholas, who had a long, bleeding wound going down his chest.

"Dad?" said Eric in a hoarse voice, as he sat up slightly. Levina inclined her head slightly to look at him in surprise. Most of the time, Eric just called Uncle Nicholas "Nick" or "Uncle Nick."

"I'm fine," said Nicholas, sitting down on the bed beside Eric. "Damn Death Eater knocked me into a suit of armor…But more importantly, are you two all right?"

"No worse than any of the hell the dragons give me at the sanctuary," said Eric, tearing a bandage off of his arm.

Levina realized belatedly that he was addressing her as well. "Oh—yeah, sure," Levina mumbled unintelligibly. She wanted to listen to what McGonagall had to say.

"Molly and Arthur are on their way," said McGonagall, and everyone roused themselves as though coming out of trances, turning again to look at Bill, or else to rub their own eyes, shake their heads. "Harry, what happened? According to Hagrid you were with Professor Dumbledore when he—when it happened. He says Professor Snape was involved in some—"

"Snape killed Dumbledore," said Harry.

She stared at him for a moment, then swayed alarmingly; Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have pulled herself together, ran forward, conjuring a chair from thin air, which she pushed under McGonagall.

"Snape," repeated McGonagall faintly, falling into the chair. "We all wondered...but he trusted...always...Snape...I can't believe it..."

"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," said Lupin, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "We always knew that."

"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side!" whispered Tonks. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't..."

"He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape," muttered Professor McGonagall, now dabbing at the corners of her leaking eyes with a tartan-edged handkerchief. "I mean...with Snape's history…of course people were bound to wonder…but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine…wouldn't hear a word against him!"

"I'd love to know what Snape told him to convince him," said Tonks.

"I know," said Harry, and they all turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."

They all stared at him. Levina forced herself to sit upright and look at him.

"And Dumbledore believed that?" said Lupin incredulously. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James..."

_Surely not mine then, either, _Levina thought with a sigh. _Seeing as she was a Werewolf and all…And considering how he hated Dad…_

Nobody asked how Harry knew this. All of them seemed to be lost in horrified shock, trying to digest the monstrous truth of what had happened.

were to join us…and Eric was new to the Order, so he wanted to join in on it…and so we patrolle

"This is all my fault," said Professor McGonagall suddenly. She looked disoriented, twisting her wet handkerchief in her hands. "My fault. I sent Filius to fetch Snape tonight, I actually sent for him to come and help us! If I hadn't alerted Snape to what was going on, he might never have joined forces with the Death Eaters. I don't think he knew they were there before Filius told him, I don't think he knew they were coming."

"It isn't your fault, Minerva," said Lupin firmly. "We all wanted more help, we were glad to think Snape was on his way..."

"So when he arrived at the fight, he joined in on the Death Eaters' side?" asked Harry.

"I don't know exactly how it happened," said Professor McGonagall distractedly. "It's all so confusing...Dumbledore had told us that he would be leaving the school for a few hours and that we were to patrol the corridors just in case...Remus, Bill, Nicholas, and Nymphadora d. All seemed quiet. Every secret passageway out of the school was covered. We knew nobody could fly in. There were powerful enchantments on every entrance into the castle. I still don't know how the Death Eaters can possibly have entered..."

"I do," said Harry, and he explained, briefly, about the pair of Vanishing Cabinets and the magical pathway they formed. "So they got in through the Room of Requirement."

He glanced from Ron to Levina to Hermione, all of whom looked devastated. Levina felt a horrible stir of guilt.

"I messed up, Harry," said Ron bleakly. "We did like you told us: we checked the Marauder's Map and we couldn't see Malfoy on it, so we thought he must be in the Room of Requirement, so me, Levina, Ginny, and Neville went to keep watch on it...but Malfoy got past us."

"He came out of the Room about an hour after we started keeping watch," said Levina, and a few of the people in the crowd looked over at her in surprise, seeing her awake.

"He was on his own, clutching that awful shriveled arm—" said Ginny.

"His Hand of Glory," said Ron. "Gives light only to the holder, remember?"

"Anyway," Ginny went on, "he must have been checking whether the coast was clear to let the Death Eaters out, because the moment he saw us he threw something into the air and it all went pitch-black—"

"—Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," said Ron bitterly. "Fred and George's. I'm going to be having a word with them about who they let buy their products."

"But the darkness wouldn't lift," said Levina.

"We tried everything, Lumos, Incendio," said Ginny. "Nothing would penetrate the darkness; all we could do was grope our way out of the corridor again, and meanwhile we could hear people rushing past us. Obviously Malfoy could see because of that hand thing and was guiding them, but we didn't dare use any curses or anything in case we hit each other, and by the time we'd reached a corridor that was light, they'd gone."

"Luckily," said Lupin hoarsely, "Ron, Ginny, Levina, and Neville ran into us almost immediately and told us what had happened. We found the Death Eaters minutes later, heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy obviously hadn't expected more people to be on the watch; he seemed to have exhausted his supply of Darkness Powder, at any rate. A fight broke out, they scattered and we gave chase. One of them, Gibbon, broke away and headed up the tower stairs—"

"To set off the Mark?" asked Harry.

"He must have done, yes, they must have arranged that before they left the Room of Requirement," said Lupin. "But I don't think Gibbon liked the idea of waiting up there alone for Dumbledore, because he came running back downstairs to rejoin the fight and was hit by a Killing Curse that just missed me."

"So if Ron was watching the Room of Requirement with Levina, Ginny, and Neville," said Harry, turning to Hermione, "were you—?"

"Outside Snape's office, yes," whispered Hermione, her eyes sparkling with tears, "with Luna. We hung around for ages outside it and nothing happened... we didn't know what was going on upstairs, Ron had taken the map ... it was nearly midnight when Professor Flitwick came sprinting down into the dungeons. He was shouting about Death Eaters in the castle, I don't think he really registered that Luna and I were there at all, he just burst his way into Snape's office and we heard him saying that Snape had to go back with him and help and then we heard a loud thump and Snape came hurtling out of his room and he saw us and—and—"

"What?" Harry urged her.

"I was so stupid, Harry!" said Hermione in a high-pitched whisper. "He said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of him while he—while he went to help fight the Death Eaters—"

She covered her face in shame and continued to talk into her fingers, so that her voice was muffled. "We went into his office to see if we could help Professor Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor...and oh, it's so obvious now, Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realize, Harry, we didn't realize, we just let Snape go!"

"It's not your fault," said Lupin firmly. "Hermione, had you not obeyed Snape and got out of the way, he probably would have killed you and Luna."

"So then he came upstairs," said Harry, "and he found the place where you were all fighting..."

"We were in trouble, we were losing," said Tonks in a low voice. "Gibbon was down, but the rest of the Death Eaters seemed ready to fight to the death. Neville had been hurt, Bill had been savaged by Greyback, Eric was badly injured...it was all dark...curses flying everywhere...the Malfoy boy had vanished, he must have slipped past, up the stairs...then more of them ran after him, but one of them blocked the stairs behind them with some kind of curse...Neville ran at it and got thrown up into the air—"

"None of us could break through," said Ron, "and that massive Death Eater was still firing off jinxes all over the place, they were bouncing off the walls and barely missing us..."

"And that's when Lydia Russell dragged me up to the Tower," said Levina, forcing herself to recall the earlier events. "I saw everything that Harry did, he's telling the truth, and—"

"Russell?" Eric was now upright, eyes stretched wide and handsome face dismayed. "Lydia Russell was _here?"_

Levina nodded grimly, and there was no point in pretending anymore that Destiny hadn't told her anything. "You couldn't have done anything to stop her, Eric—"

"Cette salope a tué ma soeur Nicola!" Eric snarled, his golden eyes flashing angrily.

"Eric!" said Nick sharply, and Levina could only assume that he said something bad in French.

"Sorry," Eric muttered reluctantly, letting Tonks continue.

"And then Snape was there," said Tonks, "and then he wasn't—"

"I saw him running toward us, but that huge Death Eater's jinx just missed me right afterward and I ducked and lost track of things," said Ginny.

"I saw him run straight through the cursed barrier as though it wasn't there," said Lupin. "I tried to follow him, but was thrown back just like Neville..."

"He must have known a spell we didn't," whispered McGonagall. "After all—he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher...I just assumed that he was in a hurry to chase after the Death Eaters who'd escaped up to the tower..."

"He was," said Harry savagely, "but to help them, not to stop the...and I'll bet you had to have a Dark Mark to get through that barrier—"

"Not the case; I got through, remember?" said Levina.

"So what happened when he came back down?" said Harry.

"Well, the big Death Eater had just fired off a hex that caused half the ceiling to fall in, and also broke the curse blocking the stairs," said Lupin. "We all ran forward—those of us who were still standing anyway—and then Snape and the boy emerged out of the dust—obviously, none of us attacked them—"

"We just let them pass," said Tonks in a hollow voice. "We thought they were being chased by the Death Eaters—and next thing, the other Death Eaters and Greyback were back and we were fighting again—I thought I heard Snape shout something, but I don't know what—"

"He shouted, 'It's over,'" said Harry. "He'd done what he'd meant to do."

They all fell silent. Fawkes's lament was still echoing over the dark grounds outside. As the music reverberated upon the air, Levina sank back against her pillow, looking sidelong at Eric, who had his head in his hands. She felt a swirl of pity for him, sure that he was beating himself up for something he couldn't have helped.

From what Destiny had said, she knew that Eric was bent on revenge against Lydia. She was secretly glad, however, that they hadn't crossed paths, because, judging by how strong the woman was, and how much she hated half-breeds, she had a feeling she wouldn't take the news of Eric being alive lightly, and Eric would end up in worse shape than he was currently…or worse…

The doors of the hospital wing burst open, making them all jump: Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were striding up the ward, Fleur just behind them, her beautiful face terrified.

"Molly—Arthur—" said Professor McGonagall, jumping up and hurrying to greet them. "I am so sorry—"

"Bill," whispered Mrs. Weasley, darting past Professor McGonagall as she caught sight of Bill's mangled face. "Oh, Bill!"

Lupin and Tonks had got up hastily and retreated so that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could get nearer to the bed. Mrs. Weasley bent over her son and pressed her lips to his bloody forehead.

"You said Greyback attacked him?" Mr. Weasley asked Professor McGonagall distractedly. "But he hadn't transformed? So what does that mean? What will happen to Bill?"

"We don't yet know," said Professor McGonagall, looking helplessly at Lupin.

"There will probably be some contamination, Arthur," said Lupin. "It is an odd case, possibly unique...we don't know what his behavior might be like when he awakens..."

Mrs. Weasley took the nasty-smelling ointment from Madam Pomfrey and began dabbing at Bill's wounds.

"And Dumbledore…" said Mr. Weasley. "Minerva, is it true…is he really...?"

As Professor McGonagall nodded, Levina looked toward Fleur, who was gazing down at Bill with a frozen expression on her face.

"Dumbledore gone," whispered Mr. Weasley, but Mrs. Weasley had eyes only for her eldest son; she began to sob, tears falling onto Bill's mutilated face.

"Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks...it's not r-really important...but he was a very handsome little b-bo...always very handsome...and he was g-going to be married!"

"And what do you mean by zat?" said Fleur suddenly and loudly. "What do you mean, 'he was going to be married?'"

Mrs. Weasley raised her tear-stained face, looking startled. "Well—only that—"

"You theenk Bill will not wish to marry me anymore?" demanded Fleur. "You theenk, because of these bites, he will not love me?"

"No, that's not what I—"

"Because 'e will!" said Fleur, drawing herself up to her full height and throwing back her long mane of silver hair. "It would take more zan a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!"

"Well, yes, I'm sure," said Mrs. Weasley, "but I thought perhaps—given how—how he—"

"You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or per'aps, you hoped?" said Fleur, her nostrils flaring. "What do I care how he looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave! And I shall do zat!" she added fiercely, pushing Mrs. Weasley aside and snatching the ointment from her.

Mrs. Weasley fell back against her husband and watched Fleur mopping up Bill's wounds with a most curious expression upon her face. Nobody said anything; Levina did not dare move. Like everybody else, she was waiting for the explosion.

"Our Great-Auntie Muriel," said Mrs. Weasley after a long pause, "has a very beautiful tiara—goblin-made—which I am sure I could persuade her to lend you for the wedding. She is very fond of Bill, you know, and it would look lovely with your hair."

"Thank you," said Fleur stiffly. "I am sure zat will be lovely."

And then, Levina did not quite see how it happened, both women were crying and hugging each other. Completely bewildered, wondering whether the world had gone mad, she turned around: Ron looked as stunned as she felt and Ginny and Hermione were exchanging startled looks.

"You see!" said a strained voice. Tonks was glaring at Lupin. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"

"It's different," said Lupin, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely—"

"But I don't care either, I don't care!" said Tonks, seizing the front of Lupin's robes and shaking them. "I've told you a million times..."

And the meaning of Tonks's Patronus and her mouse-colored hair, and the reason she had come running to find Dumbledore when she had heard a rumor someone had been attacked by Greyback, all suddenly became clear to Levina; it had not been Sirius that Tonks had fallen in love with after all.

"And I've told you a million times," said Lupin, refusing to meet her eyes, staring at the floor, "that I am too old for you, too poor...too dangerous..."

"I've said all along you're taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus," said Mrs. Weasley over Fleur's shoulder as she patted her on the back.

"I am not being ridiculous," said Lupin steadily. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."

"But she wants you," said Mr. Weasley, with a small smile. "And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so."

He gestured sadly at his son, lying between them.

"This is...not the moment to discuss it," said Lupin, avoiding everybody's eyes as he looked around distractedly. "Dumbledore is dead..."

"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world," said Professor McGonagall curtly, just as the hospital doors opened again and Hagrid walked in.

The little of his face that was not obscured by hair or beard was soaking and swollen; he was shaking with tears, a vast, spotted handkerchief in his hand.

"I've...I've done it, Professor," he choked. "M-moved him. Professor Sprout's got the kids back in bed. Professor Flitwick's lyin down, but he says he'll be all righ' in a jiffy, an' Professor Slughorn says the Ministry's bin informed."

"Thank you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall, standing up at once and turning to look at the group around Bill's bed. "I shall have to see the Ministry when they get here. Hagrid, please tell the Heads of Houses—Slughorn can represent Slytherin—that I want to see them in my office forthwith. I would like you to join us too."

As Hagrid nodded, turned, and shuffled out of the room again, she looked down at Harry. "Before I meet them I would like a quick word with you, Harry. If you'll come with me..."

Harry stood up, murmured "See you in a bit" to Ron, Levina, Hermione, and Ginny, and followed Professor McGonagall back down the ward.

Levina didn't see Harry again until much later, when she was sitting in the common room by the fire, staring blankly and numbly into the crackling flames. She didn't want to think about anything, not about Dumbledore, not about Draco…_Draco. _The very name struck a nerve in Levina and she found herself wincing anytime it slipped into her mind. She felt sick.

The room fell silent as Harry climbed through the portrait hole. Without speaking to anybody, without making eye contact at all, Harry walked straight across the room and through the door to the boys' dormitories.

Levina knew in the back of her mind that Harry would want her to follow. Glad that the boys' dormitory didn't have a charm to keep girls out, she wordlessly climbed the stairs and entered the room, peering in to make sure no one else was there.

Harry and Ron were sitting there, fully dressed with their pajamas hanging unneeded on the floor. They looked up when she entered.

"They're talking about closing the school," said Harry.

"Not surprised," said Levina in a soft, barely audible voice.

"Lupin said they would," said Ron.

There was a pause.

"So?" said Ron in a very low voice, as though he thought the furniture might be listening in. "Did you find one? Did you get it? A—a Horcrux?"

Harry shook his head, and Levina's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. "What?" she asked, hoping she had heard him wrong.

"You didn't get it?" said Ron, looking crestfallen. "It wasn't there?"

"No," said Harry. "Someone had already taken it and left a fake in its place."

"Already taken—?"

Mutely, Harry pulled the fake locket from his pocket, opened it, and passed it to Ron. Levina leaned over his shoulder for a better look.

"Someone took it?"

"R.A.B.," whispered Ron, "but who was that?"

"Dunno," said Harry, lying back on his bed fully clothed and staring blankly upwards.

Levina lay down beside him, staring sideways out the window, her eyes clouded like muddy water. In their silence, she became aware that the grounds were silent. Fawkes had stopped singing.

And she knew, without knowing how he knew it, that the phoenix had gone, had left Hogwarts for good, just as Dumbledore had left the school, had left the world...had left them all.

**Hey guys! Sorry this chapter was so sad:( It was fun to type, but also a major bummer.**

**This is a rough translation, but Eric basically said, "That bitch killed my sister, Nicola." Yeah, that's really it. **

**Oh, and I apologize for the language in this chapter; with much anger, comes much cursing. So brace yourselves for more when the last book rolls around!**

**Reviews welcome, as always.**


	15. The Funeral

**Wow, the last chapter of Book Six...To be quite honest, I never thought I'd make it this far. Big thanks to all of my reviewers/supporters!**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I still own Levina, and I'm proud of it! :') ...But not Harry Potter, still don't own him, sadly. Just thought I'd add that.**

* * *

><p>All lessons were suspended, all examinations postponed. Some students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days—the Patil twins were gone before breakfast on the morning following Dumbledore's death and Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father. Seamus Finnigan, on the other hand, refused point-blank to accompany his mother home; they had a shouting match in the Entrance Hall which was resolved when she agreed that he could remain behind for the funeral. She had difficulty in finding a bed in Hogsmeade, Seamus told Harry, Levina, and Ron, for wizards and witches were pouring into the village, preparing to pay their last respects to Dumbledore.<p>

Some excitement was caused among the younger students, who had never seen it before, when a powder-blue carriage the size of a house, pulled by a dozen giant winged palominos, came soaring out of the sky in the late afternoon before the funeral and landed on the edge of the Forest. Levina watched from a window as a gigantic and handsome olive-skinned, black-haired woman descended the carriage steps and threw herself into the waiting Hagrid's arms. Meanwhile a delegation of Ministry officials, including the Minister for Magic himself, was being accommodated within the castle. Harry was diligently avoiding contact with any of them; he was sure that, sooner or later, he would be asked again to account for Dumbledore's last excursion from Hogwarts.

Even Destiny Levesque had come along, riding in the carriage from Beauxbatons to pay her respects. The second she was off the carriage, she plowed through the crowd of students until she found Levina, throwing her arms tearfully around her. Eric and Uncle Nicholas were still already there, from the battle, and had decided to stay behind for the funeral. Eric ended up having to send a letter to Romania, explaining his dilemma to his girlfriend and the dragon sanctuary workers.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Levina, and Ginny were spending all of their time together. The beautiful weather seemed to mock them; Levina could imagine how it would have been if Dumbledore had not died, and they had had this time together at the very end of the year, examinations finished, the pressure of homework lifted…

They visited the hospital wing twice a day: Neville had been discharged, and although Levina had been kept there for a fair amount of time, she was released sooner, as well as Eric. But Bill remained under Madam Pomfrey's care. His scars were as bad as ever; in truth, he now bore a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye Moody, though thankfully with both eyes and legs, but in personality he seemed just the same as ever. All that appeared to have changed was that he now had a great liking for very rare steaks.

"You'll get used to it," said Levina reassuringly, eyeing the steak hungrily until Hermione slapped her.

"...so eet ees lucky 'e is marrying me," said Fleur happily, plumping up Bill's pillows, "because ze British overcook their meat, I 'ave always said this."

"I suppose I'm just going to have to accept that he really is going to marry her," sighed Ginny later that evening, as she, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat beside the open window of the Gryffindor common room, looking out over the twilit grounds.

"She's not that bad," said Harry. "Ugly, though," he added hastily, as Ginny raised her eyebrows, and she let out a reluctant giggle. Levina smirked.

"Well, I suppose if Mum can stand it, I can."

"She's all right," said Destiny, who'd come to stay in their common room (although it took the Fat Lady some convincing). "Can't believe she's already getting married, though…Seems like an eternity ago that we had dance class together."

"Anyone else we know died?" Ron asked Hermione, who was perusing the Evening Prophet.

Hermione winced at the forced toughness in his voice.

"No," she said reprovingly, folding up the newspaper. "They're still looking for Snape, but no sign..."

"Of course there isn't," said Harry, who became angry every time this subject cropped up. "They won't find Snape till they find Voldemort, and seeing as they've never managed to do that in all this time ..."

"Any word on Lydia Russell?" Levina asked. She had a feeling Eternity and her sister would probably not be doing very well now, getting much displeasure from the other students.

"No," said Hermione, shaking her head. "How's Eric doing?"

"Pretty badly. He refuses to drop the subject, and he keeps beating himself up about it," said Destiny, sighing. "He's blaming himself for _everything, _I swear…"

"I'm going to go to bed," yawned Ginny. "I haven't been sleeping that well since…well…I could do with some sleep."

She kissed Harry (Ron looked away pointedly and Levina laughed), waved at the other two and departed for the girls' dormitories. The moment the door had closed behind her, Hermione leaned forwards towards Harry and Levina with a most Hermione-ish look on her face.

"I found something out this morning, in the library..."

"What?" said Levina and Destiny together.

"R.A.B.?" said Harry, sitting up straight.

"No," she said sadly, "I've been trying, Harry, but I haven't found anything…there are a couple of reasonably well-known wizards with those initials—Rosalind Antigone Bungs…Rupert "Axebanger" Brookstanton…but they don't seem to fit at all. Judging by that note, the person who stole the Horcrux knew Voldemort, and I can't find a shred of evidence that Bungs or Axebanger ever had anything to do with him…no, actually, it's about…well, Snape."

She looked nervous even saying the name again.

"Oh," said Levina, disappointed as she sank back onto her knees.

"What about him?" asked Harry heavily, slumping back in his chair.

"Well, it's just that I was sort of right about the Half-Blood Prince business," she said tentatively.

"I don't think 'I-told-you-so's" are the best thing right now," said Levina.

"D'you have to rub it in, Hermione? How do you think I feel about that now?"

"No—no—Harry, I didn't mean that!" she said hastily, looking around to check that they were not being overheard. "It's just that I was right about Eileen Prince once owning the book. You see…she was Snape's mother!"

"I thought she wasn't much of a looker," said Ron. Hermione ignored him.

"I was going through the rest of the old Prophets and there was a tiny announcement about Eileen Prince marrying a man called Tobias Snape, and then later an announcement saying that she'd given birth to a—"

"—killer," said Levina.

"—murderer," spat Harry.

"Well…yes," said Hermione. "So…I was sort of right. Snape must have been proud of being "half a Prince", you see? Tobias Snape was a Muggle from what it said in the Prophet."

"Yeah, that fits," said Harry. "He'd play up the pure-blood side so he could get in with Lucius Malfoy and the rest of them…he's just like Voldemort. Pure-blood mother, Muggie father…ashamed of his parentage, trying to make himself feared using the Dark Arts, gave himself an impressive new name—Lord Voldemort—the Half-Blood Prince—how could Dumbledore have missed—?"

He broke off, looking out of the window. Levina and Destiny exchanged a nervous expression.

"I still don't get why he didn't turn you in for using that book," said Ron. "He must've known where you were getting it all from."

"He knew," said Harry bitterly. "He knew when I used Sectumsempra. He didn't really need Legilimency...he might even have known before then, with Slughom talking about how brilliant I was at Potions…shouldn't have left his old book in the bottom of that cupboard, should he?"

"But why didn't he turn you in?" said Levina.

"I don't think he wanted to associate himself with that book," said Hermione. "I don't think Dumbledore would have liked it very much if he'd known. And even if Snape pretended it hadn't been his, Slughom would have recognized his writing at once. Anyway, the book was left in Snape's old classroom, and I'll bet Dumbledore knew his mother was called 'Prince'."

"I should've shown the book to Dumbledore," said Harry. "All that time he was showing me how Voldemort was evil even when he was at school, and I had proof Snape was, too—"

"'Evil' is a strong word," said Hermione quietly.

"You were the one who kept telling me the book was dangerous!"

"I'm trying to say, Harry, that you're pulling too much blame on yourself. I thought the Prince seemed to have a nasty sense of humour, but I would never have guessed he was a potential killer..."

"None of us could've guessed Snape would…you know," said Ron.

Silence fell between them, each of them lost in their own thoughts, and Levina drew her knees up to her chin. The very thought of the following day made her sick, thinking of Dumbledore lying dead in a casket…She shivered. How could he be dead? It felt impossible, like he would suddenly appear at her shoulder, asking if she would like a licorice wand or some Every-Flavor beans.

But no. He was gone forever.

Levina rose early to pack the next day; the Hogwarts Express would be leaving an hour after the funeral. Downstairs she found the mood in the Great Hall subdued. Everybody was wearing their dress robes and no one seemed very hungry. Professor McGonagall had left the thronelike chair in the middle of the staff table empty. Hagrid's chair was deserted too: Levina thought that perhaps he had not been able to face breakfast; but Snape's place had been unceremoniously filled by Rufus Scrimgeour. Among Scrimgeour's entourage Levina spotted the red hair and horn-rimmed glasses of Percy Weasley. Ron gave no sign that he was aware of Percy, apart from stabbing pieces of kipper with unwonted venom.

Over at the Slytherin table Crabbe and Goyle were muttering together. Hulking boys though they were, they looked oddly lonely without the tall, pale figure of Draco between them, bossing them around. She had refused to think about him for a while, thinking it best to push the very thought of him from her mind, but this proved difficult. As much as she despised Draco, the tiniest drop of pity mingled with her rage. Where, Levina wondered, was Draco now, and what was Voldemort making him do under threat of killing him and his parents? She shivered and drew her cloak tightly around her shoulders.

Levina's thoughts were interrupted by a nudge in the ribs from Destiny. Professor McGonagall had risen to her feet and the mournful hum in the Hall died away at once.

"It is nearly time," she said. "Please follow your Heads of House out into the grounds. Gryffindors, after me."

They filed out from behind their benches in near silence. Levina glimpsed Slughorn at the head of the Slytherin column, wearing magnificent long emerald-green robes embroidered with silver. Somewhere below him, she saw Eternity Russell filing in, clutching her little sister Riley's hand tightly. She had never seen Professor Sprout, Head of the Hufflepuffs, looking so clean; there was not a single patch on her hat, and when they reached the Entrance Hall, they found Madam Pince standing beside Filch, she in a thick black veil that fell to her knees, he in an ancient black suit and tie reeking of mothballs.

They were heading, as Levina saw when she stepped out on to the stone steps from the front doors, towards the lake. The warmth of the sun caressed her face as they followed Professor McGonagall in silence to the place where hundreds of chairs had been set out in rows. An aisle ran down the centre of them: there was a marble table standing at the front, all chairs facing it. It was the most beautiful summer's day.

An extraordinary assortment of people had already settled into half of the chairs: shabby and smart, old and young. Most Levina did not recognize, but there were a few that he did, including members of the Order of the Phoenix: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Uncle Nicholas Levesque, Eric, his dark golden eyes focused firmly on the sky, his chin resting on his hands, Tonks, her hair miraculously returned to vividest pink, Remus Lupin, with whom she seemed to be holding hands, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill supported by Fleur and followed by Fred and George, who were wearing jackets of black dragonskin. Levina's heart leapt at the sight of them, and her heart desperately wanted to be with him, but he was too jam-packed into the crowd of people. Then there was Madame Maxime, who took up two-and-a-half chairs on her own, Tom, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, Arabella Figg, Harry's Squib neighbour, the hairy bass player from the wizarding group the Weird sisters, Ernie Prang, driver of the Knight Bus, Madam Malkin, of the robe shop in Diagon Alley, and some people whom Levina merely knew by sight, such as the barman of the Hog's Head and the witch who pushed the trolley on the Hogwarts Express. The castle ghosts were there too, barely visible in the bright sunlight, discernible only when they moved, shimmering insubstantially in the gleaming air.

Harry, Ron, Levina, Destiny, Hermione and Ginny filed into seats at the end of a row beside the lake. People were whispering to each other; it sounded like a breeze in the grass, but the birdsong was louder by far. The crowd continued to swell; with a great rush of affection for both of them, Levina saw Neville being helped into a seat by Luna. They alone of all the DA had responded to Hermione's summons the night that Dumbledore had died, and Levina knew why: they were the ones who had missed the DA most…probably the ones who had checked their coins regularly in the hope that there would be another meeting…

Cornelius Fudge walked past them towards the front rows, his expression miserable, twirling his green bowler hat as usual; Levina next recognized Rita Skeeter, who, she was infuriated to see, had a notebook clutched in her red-taloned hand; and then, with a worse jolt of fury, Dolores Umbridge, an unconvincing expression of grief upon her toadlike face, a black velvet bow set atop her iron-coloured curls. At the sight of the centaur Firenze, who was standing like a sentinel near the water's edge, she gave a start and scurried hastily into a seat a good distance away. Levina smirked. _That's right, run little toad, _she thought. She wondered whether she should change her hair color or something, but she figured it might cause an unnecessary disruption.

The staff were seated at last. Levina could see Scrimgeour looking grave and dignified in the front row with Professor McGonagall. She wondered whether Scrimgeour or any of these important people were really sorry that Dumbledore was dead. But then she heard music, strange otherworldly music and he forgot his dislike of the Ministry in looking around for the source of it. She was not the only one: many heads were turning, searching, a little alarmed.

"In there," whispered Destiny.

And she saw them in the clear green sunlit water, inches below the surface; a chorus of merpeople singing in a strange languages he did not understand, their pallid faces rippling, their purplish hair flowing all around them. The music made the hair on Levina's neck stand up and yet it was not unpleasant. It spoke very clearly of loss and of despair. As she looked down into the wild faces of the singers she had the feeling that they, at least, were sorry for Dumbledore's passing.

Destiny nudged Levina. "I can understand them," she whispered softly in her ear, her voice grim. "They're singing about the good he brought to Hogwarts, and about how he won't be easily forgotten."

Then Hermione broke into their conversation. "Look," she said, pointing.

Hagrid was walking slowly up the aisle between the chairs. He was crying quite silently, his face gleaming with tears, and in his arms, wrapped in purple velvet spangled with golden stars, was what Levina knew to be Dumbledore's body. A sharp pain rose in Levina's throat at this sight: for a moment, the strange music and the knowledge that Dumbledore's body was so close seemed to take all warmth from the day. Ron looked white and shocked. Tears were falling thick and fast into both Ginny and Hermione's laps.

That's when Levina broke down. Fat tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes and trickled down her robes. She could hardly breathe through her nose, and she sniffled and hiccupped several times, her shoulders trembling violently and her cheeks darkening into a deep red.

They could not see clearly what was happening at the front. Hagrid seemed to have placed the body carefully upon the table. Now he retreated down the aisle, blowing his nose with loud trumpeting noises that drew scandalized looks from some, including, Levina saw, Dolores Umbridge…but Levina knew that Dumbledore would not have cared. Levina glanced through teary eyes at the back row to which Hagrid was heading and realized what was guiding him, for there, dressed in a jacket and trousers each the size of a small marquee, was the giant Grawp, his great ugly boulder-like head bowed, docile, almost human. Hagrid sat down next to his half-brother and Grawp patted Hagrid hard on the head, so that his chair legs sank into the ground. Levina had a wonderful momentary urge to laugh. But then the music stopped and she turned to face the front again.

A little tufty-haired man in plain black robes had got to his feet and stood now in front of Dumbledore's body. Levina could not hear what he was saying. Odd words floated back to them over the hundreds of beads. "Nobility of spirit" ... "intellectual contribution" ... "greatness of heart" ...it did not mean very much. It had little to do with Dumbledore as Levina had known him. She suddenly remembered Dumbledore's idea of a few words: "nitwit", "oddment", "blubber" and "tweak", and again, had to suppress a grin…what was the matter with her? This was a sad time, not happy…

There was a soft splashing noise to her left and he saw that the merpeople had broken the surface to listen, too. She remembered Dumbledore crouching at the water's edge two years ago, very close to where Levina now sat, and conversing in Mermish with the Merchieftainess. Levina wondered where Dumbledore had learned Mermish. There was so much she had never asked him, so much she should have said…

Levina could not prevent hot tears spilling from her eyes: she looked away from Destiny and the others and stared out over the lake, towards the Forest, as the little man in black droned on…there was movement among the trees. The centaurs had come to pay their respects, too. They did not move into the open but Levina saw them standing quite still, half-hidden in shadow, watching the wizards, their bows hanging at their sides. And Levina remembered her first nightmarish trip into the Forest, the first time she had ever encountered the thing that was then Voldemort, and how she had faced him, and how Draco gone back to aid her, to help carry her away from the area…How she had shouted at him for not getting Harry, too…She almost laughed at the memory, but then shook her head and thought better of it.

And then something horrible began to sink into Levina's mind: Dumbledore had always been a shield of sorts for Levina, a kind of protector. He was like the parent she never had, watching over her shoulder as she grew. But now? Now he was gone, and Levina felt more vulnerable and open to attack than ever before.

The little man in black had stopped speaking at last and resumed his seat. Levina waited for somebody else to get to their feet; she expected speeches, probably from the Minister, but nobody moved.

Then several people screamed. Bright, white flames had erupted around Dumbledore's body and the table upon which it lay: higher and higher they rose, obscuring the body. White smoke spiraled into the air and made strange shapes: Levina thought, for one heart-stopping moment, that she saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had vanished. In its place was a white marble tomb, encasing Dumbledore's body and the table on which he had rested.

There were a few more cries of shock as a shower of arrows soared through the air, but they fell far short of the crowd. It was, Levina knew, the centaurs' tribute: she saw them turn tail and disappear back into the cool trees. Likewise the merpeople sank slowly back into the green water and were lost from view. Destiny watched them disappear through teary eyes.

Levina looked at Ginny, Ron and Hermione: Ron's face was screwed up as though the sunlight was blinding him. Hermione's face was glazed with tears, but Ginny was no longer crying.

Suddenly, Harry said something. Levina turned, having forgotten he was there, and her canine hearing perked up to hear what he was whispering to Ginny.

"Ginny, listen…" he said very quietly, as the buzz of conversation grew louder around them and people began to get to their feet. "I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."

She said, with an oddly twisted smile, "It's for some stupid, noble reason, isn't it?"

"It's been like…like something out of someone else's life, these last few weeks with you," said Harry. "But I can't…we can't…I've got things to do alone now."

She did not cry, she simply looked at him.

"Voldemort uses people his enemies are close to. He's already used you as bait once, and that was just because you're my best friend's sister. Think how much danger you'll be in if we keep this up. He'll know, he'll find out. He'll try and get to me through you."

"What if I don't care?" said Ginny fiercely.

"I care," said Harry. "How do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral…and it was my fault…"

She looked away from him, over the lake.

"I never really gave up on you," she said. "Not really. I always hoped…Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more—myself. Levina always knew there was something going on," she added. "She said she could see it in your eyes, too, and she kept teasing me that someday we'd be together."

"Smart girl, that Hermione," said Harry, trying to smile. "I just wish I'd asked you sooner. And of course Levina knew, she always does…We could've had ages…months…years maybe…"

"But you've been too busy saving the Wizarding world," said Ginny, half-laughing. "Well…I can't say I'm surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much."

A small smile crossed Levina's face, but it fell as she saw Ron, now holding Hermione and stroking her hair while she sobbed into his shoulder, tears dripping from the end of his own long nose. Levina sighed, got to her feet, and turned her back on it all, leaving without seeing if Destiny was following behind her.

"Levina!"

But it was not Destiny's voice. Rufus Scrimgeour was limping rapidly towards her around the bank, leaning on his walking stick.

"I've been hoping to have a word…do you mind if I walk a little way with you?"

"Yes," said Levina flatly, and set off again. She knew enough from Harry to not want to talk to him.

"Levina, this was a dreadful tragedy," said Scrimgeour quietly, looking uncomfortable. "I cannot tell you how appalled I was to hear of it. Dumbledore was a very great wizard. We had our disagreements, as you know, but no one knows better than I—"

"Do you need something?" Levina demanded still walking.

Scrimgeour looked annoyed but, as before, hastily modified his expression to one of sorrowful understanding.

"You are, of course, devastated," he said. "I know that you and Harry Potter were very close to Dumbledore. I also know that you talked a lot, and it was quite the—"

"Spill it or leave me alone," said Levina dryly.

Scrimgeour stopped and leaned on his stick and stared at Levina, his expression shrewd now.

"Word is some of the Death Eaters wanted to take you captive, no?"

"So?" said Levina.

"I had been thinking You-Know-Who, perhaps, had forgotten you," said Scrimgeour softly. "I thought he had given up, finding your…ah… 'abilities' not worth his time."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" said Levina hotly.

Scrimgeour hesitated, then said, "So this means you are still quite valuable in his eyes, and therefore your powers are not as overlookable as I originally thought."

"Oh, so _now _the Ministry remembers I exist," said Levina, her eyes narrowing as she came to a halt, turning to look at him with cold eyes.

Scrimgeour looked both nervous and irritated. "The Ministry can offer you all sorts of protection, you know, Levina. I would be delighted to place a couple of my Aurors at your service—"

Levina snorted. "Right, because _that's _going to save me from Voldemort. If he wants my 'powers', he's going to find a way to get them, one way or another. A couple of Aurors aren't going to save me, so forget about it. Don't bother calling me up the next time you remember I'm still alive."

Scrimgeour glared at her for another moment, then turned and limped away without another word. Levina could see Percy and the rest of the Ministry delegation waiting for him, casting nervous glances at the sobbing Hagrid and Grawp, who were still in their seats. But Scrimgeour was heading not for the Ministry's workers, but for Harry, most likely to interrogate him next.

Suddenly, someone else tapped Levina on the shoulder. She whirled around to see Fred standing behind her, his eyes filled with grief and his expression grim.

"Hey, Levina."

"Hi."

It was as though a light switch had been flipped; all at once, Levina was bawling into Fred's chest, her eyes streaming with tears, and Fred was clutching her tightly to him. Everything, all the weight on her shoulders, came crashing down at once. And the worst part was, Fred didn't even know half of the reason she was sobbing, the reason her heat felt so stomped on: Draco. The combination of the loss of a father-figure and a friend hurt her so much that she couldn't hold herself back, couldn't keep herself from losing it.

"It's all right," said Fred, pulling away from her finally, wiping stray tears from her face.

"Thanks," said Levina, still sniffling slightly. "How's Bill? Have you seen him yet?"

Fred looked slightly pale. "Yeah. He's doing all right, just very hungry for meat. Like you," he added, and Levina forced a small smile.

"I guess you're wanting to hear about that night, then," said Levina, knowing Fred all too well.

"I want to know why my girlfriend looks so ripped apart," said Fred. "I hear you got into a tussle with Greyback."

"Yeah…Lydia Russell knocked off my necklace, and I kind of lost control." Levina shrugged. "I didn't fully change, I just went a little wild—"

"Levina, do you even know how much I worry about you?" said Fred in a very off voice.

Levina sighed. "Yes, yes, I know—I need to be more careful and—"

"But that's just it!" said Fred, his face turning into annoyance. "You aren't ever careful, you never think before you do anything."

Levina scowled. "So I like to play it by ear. And besides, I was helping the others, did you want them to be hurt, too?"

"You are so bloody persistent!" said Fred angrily. "That's your problem, Levina. You think you're some—some hero, like it's your job to protect everyone. But guess what? You're just going to bite off more than you can chew, and then you're going to get yourself badly injured, like Bill—"

"For doing what was right!" said Levina, her own anger fuming. "I'd rather die a 'hero' than run off as a coward, it's what being a Gryffindor is all about—"

"Being a Gryffindor, and being brave, does not mean running into battles that aren't your own," said Fred. "You act like you're invincible, but you're not. You're capable of being hurt, and you will be. Just look at yourself!"

Levina sucked back tears forming at her eyelashes, and then forced herself to look into a nearby puddle on the ground. Her red, usually decently tamed hair was now messy and undomesticated; scars from Greyback ran down her arms and legs, and several bruises were forming on her body. She looked a downright mess, and she had a feeling she couldn't blame anyone who'd mistake her for a guy.

"So it's not a pretty reflection," said Levina with a careless shrug. "But it's still me."

"You can't keep your anger down," said Fred. "You can't even keep your mouth shut! One day, you're going to piss off the wrong person, and they're going to do something about it, I promise you that. If you would just swallow your pride and stop saying every first thought that comes to your mind, then maybe I wouldn't always be so frightened for you. How can we maintain this relationship if every five seconds you're getting yourself hurt?"

Levina bit her lip so hard that it bled. "I can't help it; it's who I am, Fred! Why can't you accept the fact that maybe I'm not like other girls? If you wanted someone normal, then you shouldn't have come to me. If you wanted someone who didn't make mistakes, then you should have picked someone else."

"You're not listening to me!" said Fred fiercely, moving in so close to her it was as though they were about to kiss, but Levina felt no passion, just his deep fury. "Levina, I love you, but this isn't going to work if you keep doing dumb things. If something were to happen to you—well, I don't even know what I would do! If you care even the smallest bit about me, you'll stop looking for trouble."

"You do the same things!" Levina protested, knowing full well that her argument was defeated. "Don't be such a hypocrite. Remember when you were in school? Where's the Fred I know that lived for trouble? The one who did stupid things and always got himself into danger? I never judged you for that."

"This isn't about pulling pranks at school," said Fred. "This is different. This is life, and in the real world, you can't act the way you do." Fred sighed. "I just don't want you to get hurt more, okay? I can't stand seeing you like this."

Levina took a deep breath in, knowing she was the 'bad guy' in this situation. "All right. I'm sorry, Fred, I just—I'll try to think before doing things more, all right?" _I hate it when he's right, _she thought, annoyed.

Fred nodded, then reached down to pull her into a tight embrace, burying his face into her shoulder. However, Levina knew that she couldn't do what he was asking—telling her to not have anger issues and say what was on her mind in the face of enemies was like telling her to stop breathing or eating—it just wasn't possible. When they finally broke away again, Levina turned away, heading down the path, feeling as though everything was crumbling around her.

As she thought, Harry was bothered, and Scrimgeour didn't look too pleased at the end of their conversation, either. Ron and Hermione hurried over to him when he was alone, and Levina followed.

"What did Scrimgeour want?" Hermione whispered.

"Same as he wanted at Christmas," shrugged Harry. "Wanted me to give him inside information on Dumbledore and be the Ministry's new poster boy."

Ron seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, then he said loudly to Hermione, "Look, let me go back and hit Percy!"

"No," she said firmly, grabbing his arm.

"It'll make me feel better!"

Harry laughed. Even Hermione grinned a little, though her smile faded as she looked up at the castle.

"What did he say to you?" Hermione asked Levina.

"Basically that the Ministry remembered that I'm 'valuable' to Voldemort," said Levina, shrugging.  
>"Same old crap, just being brought back, I suppose."<p>

There was a pause.

"I can't bear the idea that we might never come back," said Hermione suddenly. "How can Hogwarts close?"

"Maybe it won't," said Ron. "We're not in any more danger here than we are at home, are we? Everywhere's the same now. I'd even say Hogwarts is safer, there are more wizards inside to defend the place. What d'you reckon, Harry?"

"I'm not coming back even if it does reopen," said Harry.

Ron gaped at him, but Hermione said sadly, "I knew you were going to say that. But then what will you do?"

"I'm going back to the Dursleys' once more, because Dumbledore wanted me to," said Harry."But it'll be a short visit, and then I'll be gone for good."

"What?" Levina demanded.

"But where will you go if you don't come back to school?"

"I thought I might go back to Godric's Hollow," Harry muttered. "For me, it started there, all of it. I've just got a feeling I need to go there. And I can visit my parents' graves, I'd like that."

"And then what?" said Ron.

"Then I've got to track down the rest of the Horcruxes, haven't I?" said Harry, his eyes upon Dumbledore's white tomb, reflected in the water on the other side of the lake. "That's what he wanted me to do, that's why he told me all about them. If Dumbledore was right—and I'm sure he was—there are still four of them out there. I've got to find them and destroy them and then I've got to go after the seventh bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit that's still in his body, and I'm the one who's going to kill him. And if I meet Severus Snape along the way," he added, "so much the better for me, so much the worse for him."

There was a long silence. The crowd had almost dispersed now, the stragglers giving the monumental figure of Grawp a wide berth as he cuddled Hagrid, whose howls of grief were still echoing across the water.

"We'll be there, Harry," said Ron.

"What?"

"At your aunt and uncle's house," said Ron. "And then we'll go with you, wherever you're going."

"That's right," said Levina, slightly less confidently. What would Destiny and Nicholas say?

"No—" said Harry quickly.

"You said to us once before," said Hermione quietly, "that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?"

"You didn't think you could get rid of us that easily, did you?" said Levina with a smirk.

"We're with you whatever happens," said Ron. "But, mate, you're going to have to come round my mum and dad's house before we do anything else, even Godric's Hollow."

"Why?"

"Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"

Harry looked at him, startled; apparently the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful to Harry.

"Yeah, we shouldn't miss that," he said finally.

"Hold on—I have someone I want to talk to," said Levina; she'd spotted Eternity not far away, unaccompanied by her sister, who seemed to have gone somewhere. She hurried up to the Slytherin girl and nudged her shoulder.

"What." Eternity's lips barely moved.

"All—all right?" said Levina hesitantly. "I guess you heard stuff about last night, huh?"

"Kind of hard not to if your mum's a Death Eater," said Eternity.

"…Right," said Levina. "Er…well, you know, your cousin left last night, too," she added. Eternity looked up at her.

"Draco," said Eternity.

"Yeah. I saw him, and…um, we had a bit of a…fight. He left with Snape."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Eternity asked, not unkindly.

"Well…I wanted to ask you about him," said Levina. "Do…do you think he ever actually wanted to be my friend?"

Eternity raised her eyebrows at her, but said nothing.

"He acted suddenly like we should stop being enemies, but then he ran off with the Death Eaters and left me. And…well…" Levina shook her head. "I don't understand why he did that…I thought maybe it was just a Slytherin thing—"She broke off, remembering Eternity was a Slytherin as well.

Strangely enough, Eternity didn't look the least bit surprised. "Uh-huh. Go on."

"And—and he acted like there was something…I dunno." Levina felt like tearing her hair out. "I'm just so confused! I was hoping you might understand—I mean, you knew him probably better than I ever did…"

Eternity snorted. "You want me to feel sorry for you? Is that it? Levina, I probably waited the entire first half of our fourth year for Oliver Carter to ask me to the Yule Ball. He's a Ravenclaw. I dropped tons of not-so-subtle hints, and do you know what he asked me? He asked me to leave him alone. He called me a dirty rotten bitch who was trying to mislead him, and I didn't even end up going to the ball. And you're complaining because you have two guys, both probably head-over-heels for you. Weasley's yours, right?" she added.

"That's not true—" Levina protested; she didn't "have" Draco…did she? No! She just felt heartbroken because…because he acted like he was her friend and betrayed her! That was all. Why was Eternity suddenly acting so heated up, and accusing her of being lovesick? "Draco isn't mine, he's Pansy's. And I told you, I'm confused, all right?"

Eternity rolled her eyes. "Wow, he was right. You _are_ ignorant."

"Hey—" Levina snapped, but Eternity cut her off.

"Yeah, him and Pansy dated. What's your point?" Eternity shook her head. "You overhear a lot of stuff in the Slytherin common room, and trust me, I've heard plenty to know that you're not 'just friends.'"

And with that, she walked away, leaving Levina rooted on the spot.

It was weird, but for no apparent reason, she felt…better. It didn't make any sense whatsoever, considering how Eternity had called her thick-headed, but…What exactly _did _she hear in that common room?

Levina returned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, her tears finally gone from her eyes. She joined them by the lake, sitting down on her knees, a small smile plastered on her face as they watched the Merpeople swimming out on the lake.

And knowing full well that someday Voldemort would have his way, both she and everyone she cared for would be in danger, and the word would be in chaos, Levina still, oddly enough, felt as though the sun had come out, peering curiously down at them through the clouds. Things would definitely never be the same, but she was okay with it. In fact, when had there _ever_ been a "normal" year?

* * *

><p><strong>The question on everyone's mind is: Drevina, or Frevina? <strong>

**...Or, on my mind, at least. Post in your review who you're shipping, for the final book and battle are finally here! I promise to post the next one as soon as I can, though I've been pretty busy lately.**

**Flower gettin' Lady: Yup, she just partially transformed. Trust me, things would've been a lot messier if she'd actually become her wolf form; she can't talk when she's actually in it. (:**

**Thanks to all of my loyal fans who have stuck with me since Book One! Love all of you!**

**See you in the final battle. Are you ready for it?**


End file.
